Snow in HP, J&K; rain in plains

Chandigarh, Oct 20 (UNI) Higher reaches in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir experienced fresh snowfall while lower areas in the twin states and plains of Punjab and Haryana received rainfall since last night, bringing a considerable fall in the temperature in the region.

High altitude areas in the tribal districts of Lahaul Spiti and Kinnaur and Bharmour and Pangi in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh had another spell of snowfall making the people groan under cold wave conditions in the tribal belt.

The 13050-foot high Rohtang Pass, access to Lahaul Spiti district, and majestic Dhauladhar ranges, facing the picturesque Kangra valley, also experienced snowfall, ushering in cold weather conditions in Kullu and Kangra districts.

Widespread rain lashed lower areas of the state, including Sundernagar, Una, Kalpa, Pandoh, Rampur, Suni, Kasol, Naudan, Sujanpur Tira, Guler, Nagrota Surian and Gamroor since last night, declining the temperatures considerably.

State capital Shimla and its adjoining areas were also lashed by rain which dipped the minimum temperature to 8.6 degrees celsius in the capital town.

Cold weather conditions also prevailed in the entire Kashmir valley as higher reaches of the valley experienced heavy snowfall since yesterday. Upper reaches of tourist places of Gulmarg, Khilanmarg and Sonamarg and the holy cave shrine of Amarnath received moderate to heavy snowfall.

However, both the 300-km Jammu-Srinagar and the 434-km Srinagar-Leh national highways were open for vehicular traffic, a Srinagar report said.

Both Srinagar and Jammu were lashed by rain overnight, plummeting the temperature five degrees below normal at the summer capital and six degrees below normal at the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu recorded heavy rainfall at 63.8 mm till this morning.

The temperatures declined in Punjab and Haryana as several areas in these states experienced rainfall. Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Balachour in Punjab and Karnal in Haryana recieved light to moderate rain overnight. Hissar and Rohtak reported trace rainfall.

Chandigarh and its adjoining areas also experienced intermittent rain, accompanied by strong winds, which brought down the minimum by two degrees to 16 degrees celsius in the city.

The Met Office predicted moderate to rather heavy rain or snow will occur at most places in Himachal Pradesh and light to moderate rain or thundershowers at many places in Haryana and Punjab during the next 24 hours.

It said hailstorm or thundersquall with the windspeed exceeding 45 km per hour is likely to hit isolated places in the region.

UNI VKJ DB SB BS1826