Himachal Pradesh reels under intense cold wave conditions

Intense cold wave conditions in most parts of Himachal Pradesh continued unabated as the mercury dipped below freezing point in some areas in the state, officials said today.
All natural source of water in the high altitude tribal areas including lakes, springs, rivulets and large stretch of the Chandrabhaga river were frozen due to extreme cold wave conditions, reducing the discharge in the snow-fed Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers, the local MeT said.
The mercury stayed between minus 8 degrees Celsius and minus 11 degrees Celsius in the high altitude tribal areas while Keylong and Kalpa in tribal Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur recorded a low of minus 6.6 degrees Celsius and minus 2.0 degrees Celsius, disrupting normal life, it said.

About 40 people were struck in Lahaul and Udaipur due to the closure of the Rohtang Pass, following heavy snowfall last week and efforts were on to clear the Manali-Koksar-Keylong- Leh highway to bring the stranded people to Manali, the officials said.
The minimum temperature hovered around freezing point at several places and stayed at 1.2 degrees Celsius at Manali, 2.9 degrees Celsius at Sundernagar, 3.0 degrees Celsius at Bhuntar, 4.4 degrees Celsius at Solan, the local MeT said.
The minimum temperature in Palampur 4.7 degrees Celsius, 6.0 degrees Celsius at Mandi, 6.5 degrees Celsius at Shimla and Una, 7.4 degrees Celsius at Dharamsala and 9.2 degrees Celsius at Nahan, two to five degrees below normal, it said.

The intense cold wave conditions are continuing despite dry weather and sunny days and winter has set in three week in advance, it said.

However, the maximum day temperatures stayed close to normal in most parts of the state barring the tribal areas and Una was the hottest during the day with a high of 24.8 degrees Celsius while Sundernagar, Bhuntar, Solan and Nahan recorded maximum temperatures at 24.3 degrees Celsius, 22.0 degrees Celsius, 21.5 degrees Celsius and 21.3 degrees Celsius.
The maximum day temperature in Palampur 19.5 degrees Celsius, Dharamsala 17.2 degrees Celsius, Shimla 16.3 degrees Celsius, Manali 14.2 degrees Celsius, Kalpa 9.0 degrees Celsius and Keylong 2.8 degrees Celsius, it said.

The local MeT office has forecast dry weather in the region till November 25 and rains or snow in mid and higher hills on November 26 due to fresh Western Disturbances (WD) lying over the region.