Cold waves continue unabated in Himachal Pradesh

The piercing cold waves sweeping hills and valleys of Himachal Pradesh further intensified today, as night temperatures dropped and several towns in mid-hills also reeled under the biting chill with mercury staying close to freezing point.
The shivering cold wave conditions continued in high-altitude tribal areas with minimum temperatures staying between minus 8 and minus 15 degrees Celsius, while Keylong in tribal Lahaul and Spiti district recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius.
Sundernagar and Bhuntar recorded a low of 0.2 degrees Celsius, Manali (1), Kalpa (1.2),Solan (1.4), Palampur (4.5) andUna in Shivalik foothills(4.8), two to three notches below the season's average, the MeT department said.

However, Shimla, Nahan and Dharamsala, the major hill towns of the state, recorded minimum temperatures of 8.1, 8.3 and 10.0 degrees Celsius, respectively, slightly above the normal.
All natural sources of water like lakes, springs, rivulets and tributaries of snowfed rivers have frozen in high-altitude tribal areas, drastically reducingthe discharge of water in Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers, affecting hydropower generation.
The dry spell is continuing in the region and rain deficit was 93 per cent from October 1 to December 17.

The deficit was more than 80 to 85 per cent in most of the districts, while it was 99 per cent in Lahaul and Spiti and Hamirpur districts, 97 per cent in Kinnaur, 95 per cent in Kangra, 93 per cent in Kullu and 91 per cent in Chamba district.

However, the maximum temperatures rose marginally and Una was hottest in the region with a high of 25.4 degrees Celsius, followed by Solan(21), Sundernagar (20.2), Nahan (19.8), Shimla (18.9), Bhuntar (18.6), Dharamsala (17.8), Kalpa (17.2) and Manali (16.4).
The local MeT has predicted dry weather in the region for next six days up to December 23.