Shimla, Manali wrapped up in snow again

Himachal Pradesh's capital Shimla and popular tourist resort Manali Wednesday got another spell of snowfall, turning the hill stations more picturesque.

"Shimla and its nearby tourist spots have been receiving snowfall since this (Wednesday) morning," an official of the meteorological office here told IANS.

The residents of Shimla shivered as icy winds brought down the minimum temperature to 1 degree Celsius.

It started to snow in Manali around midnight, much to the delight of those in the hospitality industry. The town saw a low of minus 0.8 degree Celsius.

Shimla's nearby tourist spots like Kufri and Narkanda and the ski slopes in Solang in upper Manali also experienced fresh spell of snowfall.

"High-altitude areas of Lahaul-Spiti, Chamba, Kullu, Kinnaur, Sirmaur and Shimla districts have been experiencing moderate to heavy snow," said the official.

Rain lashed lower areas of the state such as Dharamsala, Palampur, Solan, Nahan, Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur and Mandi, pulling down both night and day temperatures.

The minimum temperature was 4.4 degrees Celsius in Dharamsala, which received 12.8 mm of rain, and minus 1 degree in Kalpa in Kinnaur district, which got 13 cm snow.