More snow in Shimla, Manali; traffic hampered

Popular tourist destinations Shimla and Manali continued to experience more snowfall on the second day on Tuesday, while lower hills across Himachal Pradesh were lashed by rain, bringing the temperature down by several notches.

Towns in upper Shimla district remained cut off with heavy snow cover piled on roads, officials said.

Tourist spots near Shimla like Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda also experienced snowfall, making the hill stations even more picturesque.

Likewise, Manali and its uphill Solang ski slopes and Kalpa, 250 km from the state capital, had snowfall.

However, in Shimla and Manali, the snow largely melted with the accompanying rain.

Meteorological office Director Manmohan Singh told IANS that snowfall might occur in Shimla, Kullu, Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti and Chamba districts till Wednesday.

"The higher reaches have been experiencing moderate to heavy snowfall since early Monday," he said.

The minimum temperature in Shimla was recorded at zero degree Celsius. Shimla saw 13.8 cm snow, while it was 13 cm in Manali.

Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest place in the state at minus 5.9 degrees Celsius. It saw 25 cm snow.

It was 3.4 degrees Celsius in Dharamsala, minus 2.2 degrees in Kalpa, minus one degree in Manali, minus 1.7 degrees in Dalhousie and minus 2.8 degrees in Kufri.

Kothi near Manali experienced 45 cm snow, the highest in the state.

--IANS

vg/in