Skies clear over north India; mercury sees slight slide

Himachal Pradesh, however, was lashed by heavy rains and snowfall, which has broken a five-year record in capital Shimla, bringing life to a standstill in the hill state.

Residents of Delhi woke up to a bright, sunny morning after rain and hailstorm yesterday with the minimum temperature settling at 7.3 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year.

The maximum temperature was recorded a notch below normal at 18.9 degrees Celsius with the MeT department forecast indicating mainly clear skies and normal temperatures tomorrow.

Kashmir saw improved weather conditions following a bout of heavy snowing as the 294-km Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was reopened in the afternoon today after remaining closed to traffic for two days owing to heavy snowfall. Air services were also expected to resume shortly, official sources said.

According to the MeT office, Kashmir Valley, including Srinagar, experienced snowfall of between four inches to eight feet over the past three days with temperature in the summer capital dropping to 0.2 degrees Celsius.

Himachal Pradesh though continued to be lashed by rainfall and snow, leaving several parts of the state, including capital Shimla and the tourist resorts of Manali, Narkanda and Sangla cut off while the Hindustan-Tibet and Kiratpur-Manali National Highways remained closed to traffic.

No buses left or arrived in Shimla after 6 PM yesterday as the roads were blocked due to heavy snowfall although partial traffic to Shimla and Manali was restored in the afternoon.

Trees were uprooted in Shimla, disrupting power supply in many areas of the town including at the CM