Shimla, Manali receive snowfall on Valentine's Day

Moderate to heavy snowfall occurred at many places in Himachal Pradesh Friday, giving that extra nip to Valentine's Day celebrations.

Shimla and its nearby popular destinations like Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda have been experiencing snowfall since early Friday, triggering a rush of tourists there.

Manali and the Solang Valley, known for skiing, also saw moderate to heavy snowfall.

Highways and roads in many parts of the state were blocked after snowfall, an official said.

Connectivity on the Kullu-Manali national highway was snapped from Patlikuhl, 20 km before Manali, a government official here told IANS.

Most of the internal roads in Kinnaur district were cut off due to snow, he said. Even the movement of traffic bound for towns in Shimla district such as Narkanda, Jubbal, Kotkhai, Kharapathar and Chopal was hampered.

According to the weather office here, heavy snow and rain will continue till Saturday.

Moorang in Kinnaur district experienced the highest snowfall of 100 cm in the state.

Mount Jakhu, the highest peak in Shimla, received more than a feet of snowfall.

Lower areas of the state, including Dharamsala, Solan, Nahan and Mandi, received moderate to heavy rainfall, bringing the temperature down considerably.

Bharmour in Chamba district was the coldest town in the state with a low of minus 12 degrees Celsius. It received 18 cm of snow.

The minimum temperatures in Shimla and Manali were 1 degree Celsius and minus 1 degree Celsius, respectively.

Kalpa, 250 km from Shimla, recorded the night temperature at minus 2.8 degrees Celsius, while it was 6.4 degrees in Dharamsala. Kalpa received 18 cm of snow, while Dharamsala recorded 31.4 mm of rain.

Jubbal, known for delicious apples in Shimla district, saw 80.2 mm of rain, the highest in the state.

According to the Met Office, Shimla and Manali are likely to witness mild to moderate snowfall Saturday.

The snowfall has cheered hoteliers as they are expecting a rise in tourist footfall this weekend.

"We really enjoyed hurling snowballs at each other," newly wed Deepika and her husband Abhishek Gupta said in Shimla.