SNOW COMES TO SHIMLA BEFORE SANTA
Shimla experienced the season’s first snowfall on Wednesday morning with the minimum temperature dipping to -1° Celsius. Tourist spots near the state capital — Kufri and Narkanda — too experienced snowfall. Traffic on the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was suspended after heavy snowfall. Over 1,800 Kashmir-bound vehicles, including trucks and light motor vehicles, were stopped between Banihal and Udhampur sector.
SHIMLA/SRINAGAR: Shimla experienced the season’s first snowfall on Wednesday with the temperature dipping to -1° celsius.
Tourist spots near Shimla, including Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda, too experienced snowfall. Keylong, the district headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti, remained coldest with -6.2° C.
Meanwhile, hundreds of vehicles were left stranded after authorities suspended traffic on the 270km Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the only road linking Kashmir with rest of the country, following snowfall, a senior officer said.
The Himachal’s capital recorded 4 inches of snowfall, whereas the snow cover at Theog was 1.5 inches, Kufri recorded 6 inches, Gondla 5 inches, Kothi 3 inches, Kalpa 2 inches, Mashobra 1 inches and Keylong experienced 1 inch of snowfall, respectively. In Kufri, National Highway 5 remained closed in the morning for a brief period.
While nearby Manali hills like Solang ski slopes, Gulaba and the Rohtang Pass (52km from Manali) have been experiencing snow, Kalpa in Kinnaur district and Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti district witnessed snow on the second consecutive day.
The Dhauladhar ranges of the Himalayas surrounding Dharamshala wore a fresh blanket of snow. “High-altitude areas of Lahaul-Spiti, Chamba, Mandi, Kullu, Kinnaur, Sirmaur and Shimla districts have experi- enced moderate to heavy snow,” a Met official said Rain lashed lower areas of the state such as Dharamsala, Palampur, Solan, Nahan, Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur and Mandi, pulling down temperatures. Kalpa in Kinnaur district recorded a low of -3° C while the temperature was -3.3° C in Kufri and -0.4° C in Manali. The temperature at some other places of Himachal was recorded at 6.8° C in Dharamshala, 6° C .