White New Year likely in Himachal, visitors wait anxiously

Thousands of visitors in Himachal Pradesh's tourist spots today anxiously waited to revel in a white New Year as the Met office forecast snowfall tomorrow.
The tourists roamed, relished and savoured around the popular Ridge Maidan and Mall Road in Shimla on the last day of 2016, despite intense cold wave conditions prevailing in the region.
Strong icy winds blew across the state capital with sky remaining partially overcast that revived hopes of a snowfall.
Hotels and resorts were packed to capacity. Restricted areas have been opened for parking vehicles, though tourists faced inconvinience due to long traffic jams on central roads.

Minimum temperatures dropped marginally and high-altitude areas reeled under biting cold wave conditions with minimum temperatures staying between minus 8C and minus 14C.
Keylong and Kalpa in tribal Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur districts recorded minimum temperatures at minus 2.6C and minus 1.4C, while key tourist resorts of Manali and Bhuntar recorded a low of 1.4C and 1.8C, followed by Sundernagar 2.1C, Solan 3.8C, Una 4.4C, Palampur 6C, Shimla 6.3C, Dharamsala 8.6C and Nahan 9.5C.
The maximum day temperatures dropped by up to 2C. Una was hottest at 23.6C, while Sundernagar, Nahan and Solan recorded maximum temperatures of 19.6C, 18.4C and 18C respectively, followed by Bhuntar 17C, Dharamshala 16.8C, Shimla 15.6C, Kalpa 11.2C.

MeT office has predicted rains and thundershowers in lower hills and rains or snow in mid and higher hills from January 3 onwards.