After snowfall, it''s bright sunny in Shimla, Manali

Shimla, January 24

It was a bright sunny day in Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday with overnight snow turning tourist resorts Shimla, Kufri and Manali more picturesque.

However, the snow has cut off Kinnaur district and towns in Shimla district such as Narkanda, Jubbal, Kotkhai, Kumarsain, Kharapathar, Rohru and Chopal, a government official said.

The road link to towns in upper Shimla is likely to be restored by Wednesday evening, the official said.

"It's bright and sunny after a day of widespread snow and rain in the state," a Met official here told IANS.

The minimum temperature was minus 0.4 degree Celsius in Shimla, which saw seven cm of snow and 5.8 mm of rain.

Shimla's nearby destinations like Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda experienced moderate snowfall in the past 24 hours.

Snow could be seen in certain areas of Shimla like the Mall Road, the Ridge, the US Club and Jakhu hills. However, in Manali it largely melted in the morning.

Keylong, district headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti, was the coldest in the state at a minimum of minus 5.8 degrees Celsius. It saw three cm of snow.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district saw a low of minus three degrees, while the minimum temperature was minus 0.6 degree in Manali and 3.4 degrees Celsius in Dharamsala, which saw 16.8 mm of rain.

Meteorological office Director Manmohan Singh told IANS that scattered snowfall and rain might occur in Shimla, Kullu, Sirmaur, Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti and Chamba districts till Thursday.

Hoteliers have cheered up with the snowfall in the hope that tourists will come in large numbers in the coming long weekend that starts from Republic Day on Friday.

"Now we hope to get a good number of guests ahead of the Republic Day with Shimla getting season's first snowfall," DP Bhatia, liaison officer with Shimla-based Oberoi Group of hotels, told IANS.

IANS