Rains drench North India

North India was drenched in rains today with higher reaches experiencing snowfall, leading to a significant drop in temperature in most parts of the region.
In Delhi, locals groaned as traffic was thrown out of gear in most places after rainfall and thundershowers lashed the national capital during peak hours.
Rainfall of 23.2 mm was recorded this morning while the minimum temperature settled at 11.0 degrees Celsius in Delhi. The maximum was at 22.6 degrees C, a notch below normal.
Himachal Pradesh was one of the worst hit by the rains and snowfall as several areas including upper Shimla and Kinnaur region was cut off.

Hindustan-Tibet National Highway was closed beyond Shimla due to heavy snow at Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda and traffic to Rampur and lower areas of Kinnaur also had to be diverted.
Shimla received 15 cm of snow while the tourist resort of Manali had 40 cm of snow till evening, the Met officials said.

Moorang, Chitkul, Kalpa and other higher reaches in tribal Kinnaur districts received 120 to 150 cm of fresh snow while Narkanda, Khara-Patthar, Malling and Pooh received 50 cm to 70 cm of snow, they said.
Snowfall was also experienced in the higher reaches of Uttarakhand along with incessant showers in the plains, leading to a substantial drop in temperature at most places.

Dehradun, which recorded a rainfall of 11.4 mm, saw a drop of more than ten degrees Celsius in its maximum temperature which was recorded at 11.6 degrees C as compared to yesterday's 22.8 degree C.