Snow, rains, icy winds intensify cold wave in HP

Cold wave conditions intensified further across the hills and valleys of Himachal Pradesh after higher riches of Kinnaur, Sirmaur and Shimla witnessed another spell of moderate snowfall while the mid and lower hills received rains accompanied by icy winds.
The day temperature dropped by four to seven degrees Celsius while minimum temperatures hovered around freezing point in various parts of the state.
Churdhar ranges in Sirmaur, Chitkul, Kinner Kailash and Kalpa in Kinnaur district and Chansel pass, Kharapatthar, Kufri and Narkanda received moderate snowfall.
The upper areas of state capital Shimla had mild snowfall while the mid town witnessed traces of snow, followed by rains. Shimla received 9 mm of rains while, Jakoo peak had 2 cm of fresh snow.

The mid and lower hills had moderate rains, accompanied by strong icy winds and thick fog engulfed the region, disrupting normal life.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was stranded at Rohroo and could not reach Manali for inaugurating the Winter Carnival as weather conditions were not conducive for landing of helicopter.

He, however, reached Shimla by road in the evening.
The high altitude tribal areas reeled under arctic conditions with mercury dipping 16 degrees to 24 degrees below freezing point while Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti recorded a low of minus 10.2 deg C, followed by Manali minus 2.6 deg C, Kalpa and Bhuntar 0.4 deg C, Sundernagar 1.2 deg C, Una 2.7 deg C, Solan 3.8 deg C, Dharamsala 4.6 deg C, Shimla 5.2 deg C, Palampur 5.5 deg C and Nahan 6.6 degrees Celsius.

The maximum temperatures dropped by four to seven degrees Celsius. Una witnessed a maximum of 20 deg C, followed by Dharamshala 14.2 deg C, Nahan 13.3 deg C, Solan 13 deg C, Sundernagar 12.7 deg C, Bhunter 11.2 deg C, Manali 7.6 deg C and Kalpa 3.4 degree Celsius.
Shimla received 9 mm of rains and 2 cm of snow while Kalpa had five cm of snow.
Solan, Sarahan and Mashobra received 6 mm of rains while Chail and Kandaghat had 5 mm of rains. The lower areas of the state had widespread moderate rains.
The local MeT department has warned of heavy rains or snow at some places in the Shimla, Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur and parts of Kullu and Chamba tomorrow and light rains or snow at isolated places in mid and higher hills on January 4.