Shimla, Manali, Dalhousie don white mantle again
SHIMLA/DHARAMSHALA: After a break, popular tourist resorts of Shimla, Manali and Dalhousie got fresh snow on Saturday, while the lower hills across Himachal Pradesh experienced rains, pushing down the mercury by several notches.
Hoteliers, however, cheered up in the hope that tourists will converge in large numbers due to the extended weekend till Holi that falls on March 10.
Tourist spots near Shimla such as Kufri, Fagu, Narkanda and Chail experienced snowfall, turning the hill stations even more picturesque. Likewise, the Solang ski slopes, 13 km uphill from Manali, and Kalpa, 250 km from the state capital, also saw snow. While the state capital got 5cm of snowfall, it was 15cm of snow in Kufri, 10cm in Dalhousie,
and 6cm of snowfall in Chail. Shimla town received 16mm of rainfall later.
Other parts of Shimla district, especially the upper reaches, experienced moderate snowfall. These included the apple-growing areas of Jubbal, Kotkhai and Kharapathar.
Tourism industry representatives are happy. “Despite the scare of coronavirus, we are expecting a good arrival of tourists with this spell of snowfall,” Shimla-based hotelier Rajiv Thakur said.
Shimla meteorological centre director Manmohan Singh said that high-altitude areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Kullu, Kinnaur,
Chamba, Mandi, Sirmaur and Shimla districts have been experiencing moderate to heavy snow for the past two days.
He said the minimum temperatures dropped by 4-5 degrees Celsius and maximum temperature saw a dip of 7-10 degrees.
Keylong, the administrative centre of Lahaul and Spiti district, was the coldest place in the state at minus 3.8 degrees Celsius.
Shimla recorded a low of 0.6 degrees, Kufri minus 2.9 degrees, Kalpa 1.5 degrees, Manali minus 0.6 degree, Dalhousie minus 0.1 degrees and Chail 0.1 degrees Celsius. Palampur recorded a minimum temperature of 5 degrees and Dharamshala 6.8 degrees Celsius.
RAIN IN LOWER HILLS
Lower altitude areas of the state such as Dharamshala, Palampur,
Solan, Nahan, Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur and Mandi towns received moderate to heavy rains, bringing a considerable fall in temperature.
Incessant snow also hampered vehicular traffic on the highways in Shimla, Kinnaur, Chamba and Kullu districts.
Shimla superintendent of police Omapati Jamwal said that the traffic situation is normal in Shimla town but the movement of vehicles was halted beyond Kufri and Narkanda and Kharapathar due the snow. Roads were also closed at Khidki in Chopal sub-division. The road to Mashobra is open but conditions are slippery.In wake of the inclement weather, several schools in Shimla declared a holiday on Saturday.
SNOW-CLEARING OPS HAMPERED
The fresh spell of snow also hampered snow clearance operations undertaken by the Border Roads Organisation on the Manali-Leh highway and other roads in forward areas.
On the demand of residents of Lahaul and Spiti, the district administration reestablished a rescue post on both sides of the Rohtang Pass in Marhi and Koksar.
Meanwhile, the threat of rain loomed large over the first match of India-South Africa three-match one day international (ODI) series to be played at Dharamshala International Cricket Stadium on March 12.
The weather office has predicted snow in the higher reaches and rains in the middle and low hills from March 11.
“A fresh western disturbance will be active in the region from March 11, bringing more rain and snow next week,” said Manmohan Singh.