Tourist resorts in HP receive snow, Adampur coldest in plains

Chandigarh, Nov 20 (UNI) The tourist resorts of Kufri, Narkanda and Fagu in Himachal Pradesh received the first snowfall of the season while the capital town of Shimla received sleet that led to a sharp fall in the night temperatures in the entire hill state.

Elsewhere in the North West, the states of Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh reported traces of rainfall last night, leading to a fall in the minimum temperatures in the plains.

Adampur in Punjab was the coldest place in the plains where the minimum fell to 8.0 degrees celsius. There were reports of early morning fog at certain places in Punjab and Haryana.

A report from Shimla said that Narkanda received about 5 cm snowfal last night which disrupted vechicular traffic on NH-22.

Fagu received 2.5 cm while the popular resort Kufri received two cm snow which led to a rush of tourists to this resort. Mashobra also received 1.5 cm of snow.

The tribal town of Kalpa in Kinnaur district received 4 cm snowfall leading to sharp fall in night temperatures which were recorded at minus 2.9 degrees. The higher reaches of Kullu district and those of Lahaul and Spiti and the Pangi valley of Chamba district also received fresh snowfall last night.

The minimum temperature in the capital hill resort of Shimla fell to 2.8 degrees celsius as the town received a brief spell of sleet this morning. The minimum at Bhuntar in Kullu district fell to 4.9 degrees and at Sundernagar in Mandi district it was 7.4 degrees.

In Punjab, Adampur airbase near Jalandhar was fairly cold at 8.0 degrees while in the holy city of Amritsar the night temperature was 11.9 degrees, which was two to three degrees above normal. The minimum at Ludhiana was 11.2 degrees and at Patiala it was 13.1 degrees.

In Haryana, Ambala was the coldest place at 11.9 degrees while the minimum ar Hisar was 14.8 degrees and at Karnal it was 14.4 degrees. The minimum at Rohtak was 13.2 degrees celsius.

The minimum in the Union Territory of Chandigarh hovered around 12.6 degrees celsius even as the city received traces of rain in the night.

The Met office has forecast cloudy weather conditions in the region with light to moderate rain in the plains and snowfall in the mid and higher reaches of Himachal Pardesh.

UNI HS DB 1446