Heavy snowfall, rain in Himachal; several areas cut off

Tribal areas of Lahaul, Spiti and Pangi were cut off and road links to many places in the interior area were severed as heavy snowfall and rain drenched several areas of Himachal Pradesh hitting normal life.
While high-altitude tribal areas, mountain passes, mountain ranges and other higher hills experienced heavy snowfall, mid and lower areas received widespread rains.
Tourist destinations of Narkanda, Sangla, Solang and some other places had their first snowfall of the season while sprawling Dhauladhar ranges in Kangra, Churdhar ranges in Sirmaur, Rohtang, Saach, Chansel and Kunzam passes had intermittent heavy snowfall for the second day today.

The Rohtang Pass (13,050 ft) received 50 cm of fresh snow while Koksar, Solang and Mari had 38 cm of snow, followed by Kothi (37 cm), Keylong (31 cm), Kalpa (17 cm).
Heavy rains lashed the lower hills and Gaggal, Dalhousie, Dharamshala and Dehra Gopipur received 114 mm, 112 mm, 111 mm and 96 mm rains in less than 10 hours, causing a sharp fall in day temperatures which dropped by five to six notches, aggravating the coldwave conditions.
The rain and snowfall disrupted normal life and about 20 roads including link roads were closed in Rohroo and Rampur areas in Shimla district.

Maximum temperatures plummeted across the state and dropped by five to six notches.
The minimum temperatures dropped marginally and Keylong, Kalpa and Manali recorded a low of minus 2.4 degree, minus 0.2 degree and 0.6 degree, followed by Shimla 4.0 degree, Dharamsala and Una 5.2 degrees Celsius.
The MeT office has predicted rains or snow at many places in lower, mid and higher hills over next two days.