Rains, snow break dry spell in HP, day temperatures plummet

The capital of Himachal Pradesh, its surrounding areas and parts of Sirmaur, Solan and, Lahaul and Spiti received snowfall, while mid and lowers hills witnessed scattered rains, breaking the seven-week-long dry spell in the state.
Shimla and its surrounding areas witnessed intermittent snowfall this afternoon affecting vehicular traffic and disrupting normal life.
"An ambulance carrying a woman patient skidded at Ridge and overturned. She was rescued and rushed to a hospital here. The road leading to IGMC and the High Court has been cleared of snow," Shimla DC Amit Kashyap said.
The administration has made adequate arrangements to meet any exigency and maintain normal services, he said.

Kufri, Chail, Fagu and Narkanda received moderate snowfall while Churdhar ranges in Sirmaur, Chansel Pass and Nankhari area of Rampur were experiencing intermittent snowfall.
Nohra Dhar, Gatta Dhar, Bathau Dhar and Banali Dharare recorded 6 cm to 8 cm of snow, the MeT department said.

Rains and snowfall has brought cheers to farmers, apple growers and hoteliers.
"The dry spell had threatened Rabi crop and apple growing prospects while the occupancy in hotels in Shimla had come down to 20 per cent. But now, we can hope for a revival," a senior official of the agriculture department said.
The lower hills of Himachal Pradesh experienced scattered rains. Una and Solan recorded 12 mm and 10 mm of rains respectively, followed by Dharamsala 7 mm, Sundernagar 6 mm, Shimla 5.5 mm.

Minimum temperatures dropped marginally and Keylong, Kalpa and Manali recorded a low of minus 3.4 degrees Celsius, minus 2 degrees Celsius and minus 0.6 degrees Celsius respectively.
In Una, day temperature dropped from yesterday's 22.6 degrees Celsius to 11.2 degrees Celsius today, while Sundernagar and Bhuntar recorded a high of 11.8 degrees Celsius and 14 degrees Celsius respectively.
Palampur, Nahan and Dharamsala recorded a high of 16.7 degrees Celsius, 16.5 degrees Celsius and 15.8 degrees Celsius respectively, followed by Manali and Kalpa 10.6 degrees Celsius each and Keylong 4.2 degrees Celsius.
The weatherman has predicted dry weather in the region over the next six days and rains or snow at isolated places in higher hills tomorrow.