Kasauli, Shimla, Manali turn white

Bhanu P Lohumi

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Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 27

Normal life was thrown out of gear as several parts of Himachal experienced intermittent snowfall and rain today, cutting off the upper Shimla region and leading to the closure of educational institutions in Shimla.

The capital received the maximum snowfall during February after five years and the adjoining tourist resort of Kufri experienced the coldest night of the season with the minimum temperature dipping to minus 5 degree.

The traffic was hit by the fresh snowfall and the upper Shimla region was cut off and Rampur-bound vehicles were routed via Basantpur and Kingal and heavy machinery and men were deployed to clear roads. Over 300 roads were blocked in the state.

Shimla, which has been experiencing snowfall since this morning, was covered under a blanket of snow but roads within the town and lower areas like Chandigarh, Mandi, Kangra and Una were open. As many as 80 buses of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation were stranded at various places.Kalpa received 14 cm of snow while Kasauli and Kufri recorded 10 cm of snow followed by Shimla 9 cm, Manali 7 cm, Jubbal and Mashobra 5 cm and Dalhousie 4 cm.

Widespread rain occurred in lower hills and Jhandutta was the wettest in the region with 20 mm rain followed by Sangrah 16 mm, Kotkhai and Nahan 11 mm, Aghar and Sundernagar 10 mm, Mandi, Hamirpur, Rajgarh, Pachhad and Pandoh 9 mm and Berthin, Renuka, Mehre and Bhuntar 8 mm.

The maximum temperature plummeted and stayed five to seven degree below normal while the minimum temperature dipped below the freezing point at more than 10 places.

The high-altitude tribal areas and higher hills reeled under biting cold wave conditions with the mercury staying 15 to 22 degree below freezing point while with Keylong and Kalpa recorded a low of minus 11 degree and minus 6 degree, followed by Kufri minus 5 degree, Shimla minus 1.4 degree, Manali minus 1 degree, Nahan 2.1 degree, Solan 3.5 degree, Palampur 4 degree, Dharamsala 4.2 degree and Bhuntar 4.5 degree C.

The maximum temperature was also five to seven degree below normal and Keylong recorded a high of zero degree.

The local Met office has warned of thunderstorm accompanied by hails in lower and mid hills on March 2 and 3 and rain and thunder showers in lower hills and rain and snow in mid and higher hills for four days from March 2 as another western disturbance lies over the region.