Himachal sees rise in mercury, but rain in store

The hills of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday saw a rise in mercury, recording temperatures three to seven degrees above the average. But the Met office forecast rains and thundershowers.

"A fresh western disturbance is likely to be active in the region with chances of rain and thundershowers till Monday," an official of the meteorological office here told IANS.

Meanwhile, the hill state continued to experience hot weather with the day temperature crossing the 39 degrees Celsius mark in some areas.

Una town was the hottest in the state with a high of 39.4 degrees Celsius.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district recorded a maximum temperature of 21.6 degrees Celsius while Dharamsala was hot at 28.6 degrees Celsius.

Shimla recorded the maximum temperature at 27.5 degrees Celsius, 7.7 notches above average.

Popular tourist resorts like Narkanda, Kufri, Kasauli, Manali, Palampur, Chamba and Dalhousie also experienced hot weather.