Snow, rains tighten cold grip in Himachal

Shimla, Feb 15 (PTI) The tribal belt and other higherreaches of Himachal Pradesh had intermittent snowfall for thefourth day today, while the mid and lower hills were lashed byrains further aggravating the cold conditions.

Avalanche threat loomed large in high altitude tribalareas and people had been advised to avoid venturing outduring the day time.

The high reaches around Manali, including FriendshipPeak, Ladakhi Peak Shitidhar, Mukerbeh and Shikherbeh peaks,received intermittent snowfall ranging between 250 cm and 300cm while the Solang slopes near Manali and Rohtang Pass werecovered under 150 cm and 200 cm snow, a report from Manalisaid.

The tourist resort of Manali had another spell ofmoderate snowfall for the fourth day, bringing cheers to thehospitality industry. The ski lovers and tourists werethronging Manali and surrounding areas to enjoy the snow.

Temperatures stayed below normal in mid and higherhills. However, day temperature rose to 6.9 deg C in Keylong,ten degrees above normal while the minimum temperature alsoincreased to minus 3.1 deg, seven degree above normal.

The mid and lower hills experienced intermittent heavyrains, accompanied by strong winds and Una was wettest in theregion with 60 mm of rains.

Shimla received 13 mm of rain, while Palampur andDharamsala had 20 mm of rains till this evening.

Hamirpur recorded 40 mm of rains, followed by Bangana39 mm, Karsog 38 mm, Dehra Gopipur and Baldwara 30 mm each,Amb 28 mm, Nadaun 27 mm, Rajgarh, Baijanath and Bhoranj 20 mmeach and Sujanpur Tira 19 mm.

Meanwhile, the minimum temperature plummeted to 3.8deg C and 3.1 deg C in Shimla and Dharamsala. Nahan, Mandi,Una and Sundernagar were relatively warmer with minimumtemperatures ranging between 8 deg C and 9 deg C.

The MeT office has predicted more rains and snow inmid and higher hills during the next 48 hours.