Fresh snowfall, rains lash HP; mercury plummets

Biting cold wave conditions sweeping the hills and valleys of Himachal Pradesh further intensified today as parts of the state received intermittent rains and snow accompanied by high velocity icy winds.
The high altitude tribal areas of Kunzam, Saach and Rohtang passes and Churdhar and Dhauladhar ranges in Sirmaur and Kangra districts received intermittent snowfall, bringing a fresh chill to the adjoining valleys.
The sky remained heavily overcast and the day temperature fell sharply.
Shimla recorded a drop of over 5 notches in its maximum temperature, settling at 8.5 degrees Celsius, as against 14 degrees the previous night, and received 4 mm rains.

Una recorded a high of 14.4 degrees, while Nahan had a day temperature of 14.1 degrees, followed by Bhunter 13.5 degrees, Dharamshala 12.8 degrees, Solan 12.5 degrees, Sundernagar 12.4 degrees and Kalpa 0.4 degrees.
Key tourist resorts of Kufri, Fagu, Wildflower Hall and Narkanda had mild snowfall.

Kalpa, Keylong, Killar and Pin valley in the tribal belt received 10 cm to 20 cm of fresh snow while Rohtang and Kunzam passes and Dhauladhar and Churdhar ranges in Kangra and Sirmaur district had intermittent heavy snowfall.
Una received 32 mm rains while Dharamsala and Kangra had 12.3 mm of rains each, followed by Solan 4 mm and Manali 3 mm.

However, minimum temperatures rose marginally and Keylong and Kalpa in tribal Lahaul and Spiti district recorded a low of minus 2.7 degree and minus 1.8 degree respectively, while Manali and Solan recorded minimum temperatures at 3.5 degrees each.
Local MeT office has predicted rain and snow at isolated places in mid and higher hills during next 24 hours.