Intense cold wave conditions continue in Himachal Pradesh

Intense cold wave conditions in most parts of Himachal Pradesh continued unabated as mercury dropped further and hovered around freezing point at many places in the state.
Thick ground frost occurred in higher hills, causing freezing and bursting of water pipes while fogengulfed towns along the river banks in the morning, reducing visibility and affecting vehicular traffic.
The high altitude tribal areas and other mountain peaks shivered under biting cold with minimum temperatures settling between minus 8.0 degrees Celsius and minus 13 degrees Celsius.
Keylong and Kalpa in tribal Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur districts shivered at minus 5.6 degrees Celsius and minus 1.0 degrees Celsius respectively.

The mercury dropped to minus 0.8 degrees Celsius in Manali, 2.0 degrees Celsius inBhuntar, 2.8 degrees Celsius in Sunder Nagar and 3.0 degrees Celsius in Solan.
Shimla recorded a low of 4.1 degrees Celsius, followed by Palampur 5.0 degrees Celsius, Una 6.4 degrees Celsius, Nahan 9.5 degrees Celsius and Dharamsala 10.4 degrees Celsius.
The maximum temperatures remained steady and Una was hottest during the day with a high of 25.3 degrees Celsius, followed by Sundernagar 21.9 degrees Celsius, Dharamshala 20.4 degrees Celsius, Bhuntar 20.2 degrees Celsius,Solan 19.8 degrees Celsius and Shimla 14.3 degrees Celsius.
The local MeT office has predicted dry weather in the region for the next six days and said that a fresh feeble western disturbance as a trough in mid tropospheric westerlies is likely to affect western Himalayan region from December 16 onwards.