Cold wave continues in Himachal

The piercing cold wave sweeping Himachal Pradesh further intensified in the region disrupting normal life and vehicular traffic in the region.
Tribal areas and other higher hills had another spell of moderate snowfall and Keylong, Kalpa, Bharmaur and Jubbal recorded 17 cm, 10 cm, 8 cm and 3 cm respectively.
The Hindustan-Tibet national highway was opened up to Pangi Nalla after snow was cleared at Narkanda while Pooh, Malling, Sangla and other link roads in the interiors remained closed.
Snow was cleared at Khara-Patthar opening Shimla-Rohroo road but Chopal and Nerwa areas of Shimla district were cut off by road. Kullu -Manali road was open for traffic but the road beyond Manali was closed due to heavy snowfall.

The lower hills had sporadic rains with Paonta Sahib recording 32 mm of rain, followed by Kheri 23 mm, Shimla, Jubbar Hatti and Baldwara 21 mm, Dalhousie 20 mm, Rampur and Sunni Bhajji 19 mm, Sundernagar 18 mm, Gaggal and Nahan 17 mm, Bhunter 16 mm and Mandi 15 mm.
Avalanche threat loomed over tribal areas which reeled under Arctic conditions with minimum temperature remaining 15 to 22 degrees below freezing point while Keylong, Kalpa and Manali recorded a low of minus 9.7 degrees Celsius, minus 3.5 degrees Celsius and minus 2 degrees Celsius respectively.

Minimum temperature dropped by 2 to 4 degrees across the state as Shimla and Bhuntar recorded a low of 2.5 degrees Celsius and 2.6 degrees Celsius respectively while Sundernagar recorded 3.9 degrees Celsius, followed by Solan 4.5, Nahan 5.1 and Una 6.7 degrees Celsius.

There was no significant change in maximum temperatures as Una remained hottest with a high of 20 degrees Celsius, followed by Sundernagar 19.1, Nahan 17.9, Bhunter 17, Solan 16.5, Dharamsala 15.2, Shimla 13.3, and Manali and Kalpa 5.4 degrees Celsius.
The local Met office has predicted dry weather in the region during next 72 hours.