Relief from cold; mercury on rise in HP

Shimla, Feb 14 (UNI) Residents of the Himachal Pradesh had some respite from the extreme cold conditions with the day temperatures continuing to rise appreciably in the state for the second consecutive day today.

Shimla town recorded a day temperature of 15 degrees Celsius as against 13 degrees recorded yesterday and the Met office said this was about four degrees above normal.

The state capital's night temperature also rose by about three degrees to stand at 3.6 degrees as against point seven degree Celsius recorded yesterday, the Met office said.

Similarly, the day temperatures at Sundernagar, Bhuntar and Dharamshala notched to 21.2, 20 and 18.8 degree Celsius respectively, it added.

The day temperature at Kalpa in Kinnuar district rose by over three points to 5.8 in comparison to yesterday, while mercury scaled up to 11.4 degrees in the famous tourist resort of Manali in Kullu district.

However, the minimum at Keylong stood at minus 15.7, minus 9.1 at Kalpa and minus two degree at Manali, while Una town was cold with zero degrees.

The met office said Bhuntar recorded one degree, Dharamshala 3.7, Palampur 3.3, Nahan 9.6, mandi 2.5 and Solan four degrees Celsius.

The sky was mainly clear over the major parts of the state, including the tribal districts of Kinnuar and Lahaul Spiti, while conditions were overcast in Kullu and Chamba districts.

Thin clouds were visible over Shimla town during the second half of the day today after another clear sky in the morning to begin with.

Because of continuing clear blue sky for the last few days, the helicopter also undertook three flights from Bhuntar to Lossar, Udaipur and Stingry in Lahaul Spiti district to ferry stranded people and patients too and fro from the tribal district.

The Met office has forecast mainly clear sky over the state during the last 24 hrs.

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