Mercury soars in Himachal Pradesh

New Delhi, May 24: Mercury soared in parts of Himachal Pradesh on Saturday and Una was the hottest place in the state with a maximum temperature of 42.2 degrees Celsius, the meteorological centre here said.

Most other parts of the state recorded temperatures above the 30-degree mark.

Una recorded the highest temperature in the hill state at 42.2 degrees Celsius, Shimla Meteorological Centre director Manmohan Singh said.

Bilaspur recorded a maximum temperature of 39 degrees Celsius, followed by 38.2 in Hamirpur, 38 in Kangra, 37.8 in Sundernagar, 34.6 in Solan, 32.2 in Chamba, 31.8 in Palampur and 30.4 in Dharamshala, he said.

Tourist places Manali, Shimla, Dalhousie and Kullu recorded maximum temperatures of 28.8, 28.6, 23.7 and 19 degrees Celsius respectively.

The mercury settled at 17 degrees Celsius in tribal district Lahaul-Spiti's administrative centre Keylong and Kinnaur's Kalpa recorded a maximum temperature of 24.6 degrees Celsius.