Winter refuses to loosen icy grip; HP continues to freeze

Shimla, March 4

The tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh and mid and higher hills continued to reel under freezing cold even as stormy conditions subsided and the region had a clear sky in the morning.

The mercury dipped 15 to 23 degree below freezing point in high altitude tribal areas and avalanche threat loomed large over areas above 2400 mts while Kalpa and Keylong in tribal Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti districts recorded minimum temperature at minus 10.8 degrees and minus 8.9 degrees, a drop of four to five degrees, an official spokesman of the meteorological department said.

The key tourist resort of Manali recorded a low of minus 3 degrees Celsius, followed by Shimla (1.2 degrees), Solan (2.3 degrees), Sundernagar (2.6 degrees), Una (3 degrees), Palampur (3.5 degrees), Bhuntar (4 degrees), Dharamsala (6.2 degrees) and Nahan (8.7 degrees) Celsius.

The restoration works are in full swing and power supply has been restored in most places, barring some parts in tribal areas and parts of Kullu and Chamba districts.

Some 160 roads were opened on Wednesday and Hindustan-Tibet National highway had been opened up to Tapri and most of the roads in tribal areas would be opened in next two or three days, the spokesperson said.

Of 589 water supply schemes affected due to heavy snow and rains, 414 schemes had been made operational and the remaining 175 schemes would be restored in a day or two, he said

Mashobra near Shimla received 10 cm of snow during past 24 hours while Kalpa received 3 cm of fresh snow.

The Rohtang Pass and other higher reaches were covered under 200 cm to 300 cm thick blanket of snow.

Naina Devi was wettest in the region with 45 mm rains while Kheri and Gohar received 35 mm and 27 mm rains followed by Kahu (25 mm), Palampur (19 mm), Una (15 mm), Jhandutta and Mandi (13 mm), Seobagh, Bhuntar and Baijnath (11 mm) and Sarahan (10 mm).

However, the maximum day temperatures rose by few notches. Una was hottest in the region with a high of 22.5 degrees followed by Sundernagar at 19.2 degrees, Nahan 18.6 degrees, Bhunter 18.5 degrees, Dharamshala 16.8 degrees, Solan 16.5 degrees, Shimla 11.4 degrees, Manali 8.4 degrees and Kalpa 5.4 degrees Celsius.

The local MeT office has predicted rains or snow at isolated places on Thursday and dry weather in mid and lower hills from March 6 onwards and rains and snow in the region from March 8. — PTI