Mercury up again in Himachal

After two days of pleasant weather following rainfall in most parts of Himachal Pradesh, the mercury started to rise again in the hills Wednesday. In some areas, it was 41 degrees Celsius.

Shimla, at an altitude of 2,130 metres, was warm at 27.5 degrees Celsius, 3.3 notches above the season's average. It was pleasant at 24 degrees Celsius Monday.

"The maximum temperature increased by two to three degrees across the state," an official of the meteorological office here told IANS.

Una town, located on the Punjab border, was the hottest at 41 degrees Celsius.

Dharamsala, which saw 15.8 mm rain in the past 24 hours, recorded a high of 33.8 degrees Celsius, 2.1 notches above average, while it was 37 degrees in Sundernagar, 22 degrees in Kalpa and 37.3 degrees in Nahan town.

The picturesque tourist resort of Manali, which saw mild rainfall, was warm at 20 degrees Celsius.

The Met Office said dry weather would prevail across the state Thursday.