Temperatures remain down after snow in HP

Shimla, Jan 25 (UNI) Shimla town recorded another cold night at minus 3.5 degrees Celsius even as the coldwave further tightened its grip over Himachal Pradesh after all mid and lower hills of the state experienced fresh spell of snow since morning.

Almost all mid and lower hills of the state are experiencing intermittent snowfall since this morning, while overcast conditions are prevailing in the rest of the state.

The famous tourist resort of Manali in Kullu district was experiencing intermittent snowfall since this morning, forcing local people and tourists to remain indoors.

The state capital recorded another cold night at minus 3.5 degrees after recording the coldest night in January at minus 4.4 degrees yesterday in 15 years.

The met office said minimum temperature at Patseio in Lahaul Spiti stood at minus 25 degrees, while Dhundi and Keylong recorded night temperatures of minus 15 degrees each.

The night temperatures in several areas in the mid and lower hills were being recorded between minus 25 and 40 degrees Celsius, while it was below freezing points in several places in the lower parts of the state last night, it said.

The Met office said Sundernagar recorded a low of minus 1.5, Bhuntar 0.4, minus 11 at Kalpa, minus three at Manali and minus 2.8 degrees at Una town.

A report from Lahaul Spiti said three helicopter flights to Baring, Rawa and Stingri from Bhuntar in Kullu district to ferry people and patients from the tribal district were called off due to bad weather.

The new schedule of the flights to the tribal district would be announced later, an official source said.

He said Koksar area in Lahaul Spiti district was without power for the last 15 days after experiencing heavy snow recently.

Overcast conditions prevailed over Shimla and other adjoining areas even as the drinking water supply lines remained frozen in several localities of the town where residents were resorting to rationing of water to tide over water scarcity.

The Met office yesterday forecast that intense coldwave conditions will continue for another 48 hrs due to the north westerly winds that were blowing across the state.

UNI XC AS PS BDP AS1840