Met warns of heavy rain for next 3 days

Tribune Reporters

Shimla, April 1

Stormy conditions prevailed in most parts of the state as intermittent rain accompanied by strong winds lashed mid and lower hills while high-altitude tribal areas received moderate snowfall.

The local Met office has warned of heavy thunderstorm accompanied with hailstorm at isolated places over the next three days and rain and snowfall at many places up to April 7.

Higher reaches in Lahaul and Spiti, Rohtang Pass and upper areas of Manali had another spell of moderate snowfall and Koksar and Mari received 25 cm snow while Rohtang Pass had 35 cm fresh snow.

Fresh snowfall has hampered road clearance operations of border roads which had cleared the Manali-Leh national highway of snow up to 28 km from the Manali side.

The sky remained heavily overcast in Shimla which was lashed by strong winds accompanied by intermittent showers. Bhandal was wettest in the state with 23 mm rain, while Kalatop and Manali received 18 mm and 15 mm rain, followed by Mashobra 14 mm, Dalhousie 12 mm, Shimla 10 mm, Dharamsala 8 mm, Chamba 6 mm and Bhuntar 4 mm rain.

Farmers in mid and lower hills are a worried lot as rain and thunderstorm was harmful for rabi crop and stone fruit crops, which have already suffered damage.

The mercury rose marginally in lower hills and Una in Shivalik foothills was the hottest in the region with maximum temperature at 31°C, followed by Nahan 23.3°C, Solan 22.5°C, Sundernagar 21.3°C , Dharamsala 20.4°C, Bhunter 18°C, Shimla 17.1°C and Manali 14°C.

There was no significant change in the minimum temperature which rose marginally and Keylong and Kalpa recorded minimum temperatures at 1.5°C and 2.4°C, while Manali and Palampur recorded a low of 5°C followed by Shimla 8.5°C, Bhuntar 9.6°C, Solan 9.8°C, Dharamsala 10.2°C, Una 11.6°C, Sundernagar 12.3°C and Nahan 16.1°C.

Snow revives cold in Manali

Kullu: Fresh snowfall at high-mountain peaks of Kullu and Manali has hampered the snow-clearing operations undertaken by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) on the Manali-Rohtang Pass road.

There was a sharp fall witnessed in the mercury as Manali experienced a low of 5°C, while Kullu experienced a minimum temperature of 9.6°C.

The persistent rain had triggered landslides in different regions of this district, thereby affecting the road connectivity in a few areas. The vehicular traffic was disrupted on the Bhuntar-Manikaran road for about four hours due to landslide near Shaat Nullah.

No major incident of loss due to the prevailing inclement weather conditions has been reported so far, however the torrential rains worried the farmers and agriculturists of the region.

Snow in Dhauladhars

Kangra: Rain lashed the Kangra valley here today while the Dhauladhar mountain range experienced mild snowfall.

Snow on the Dhauladhars and rain in the Kangra valley dropped down the mercury considerably resulting in cold wave conditions.

“Rain and cold wave in the present season are detrimental for crops like mustards and rapeseed which are at the maturing stage,” said an expert from the Agriculture Research and Extension Centre, HPKV.

He said summer crops like cucurbits, solanaceous, vegetables capsicum and other vegetables like okra and Brinjal and French Bean were also affected.

KK Sharma, Director, Kangra airport, said flights arrived without any disturbance here today.

Reports of rains were received from Dharamsala, McLeodganj, Jwalamukhi, Shahpur, Dhraman, Nagrota Bagawn, Icchhi, Gaggal, Mallan, Maranda, Palampur, Dehra, Haripur and Ranital.