Fresh warning for heavy rain, snowfall issued in Himachal Pradesh

A fresh weather warning has been issued for heavy rain and snowfall in Himachal Pradesh from March 11-13, the Meteorological Department said on Tuesday.

The Met centre in Shimla forecast rain and snow in the state from March 11-15 but it issued a warning for March 11-13 only.

It issued a yellow warning for March 11 and an orange warning for March 12-13 of heavy rain with thunderstorm accompanied with hailstorm in the plains and the low and middle hills of the state, Shimla Met Centre director Manmohan Singh said.

It also issued an orange warning of heavy rain, snowfall in the high hills for March 12.

The Met office issues colour-coded warnings to alert people ahead of severe or hazardous weather that has the potential to cause damage, widespread disruption or danger to life.

Orange is for weather conditions that have the capacity to impact significantly, while yellow, the least dangerous of all the weather warnings, indicates the possibility of severe weather.

Meanwhile, the weather remained dry and cold in the state on Tuesday, with the lowest temperature being recorded in tribal district Lahaul-Spiti's administrative centre Keylong at minus 5.2 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature in Kalpa was minus 0.5 degrees Celsius.

Manali recorded a low of 1 degree Celsius, followed by Kufri at 4.8 degrees Celsius, Dalhousie at 5.2 degrees Celsius and Shimla at 5.7 degrees Celsius, Singh said.

The highest temperature was recorded in Una at 27.8 degrees Celsius, he added.