Fresh spell of snow, rain brings down mercury in Himachal Pradesh; Keylong coldest at 0.9 degrees Celsius

Shimla, March 25

Wintry conditions are back in mid and higher hills of Himachal Pradesh as high-altitude tribal areas received another spell of moderate snowfall and mid and lower hills received widespread rains.

A landslide occurred near Bhibagh in Udaipur subdivision of Lahaul and Spiti district this afternoon, officials said. No casualty was reported.

The local Meteorological (MeT) station has warned of thunderstorms and lightning at isolated places on March 29 and light-to-moderate rain in low and mid-hills on March 26, 28 and 29.

Gondla and Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district received 8.5 cm and 2.6 cm of fresh snow, respectively, while Dalhousie was wettest in the region with 91 mm rains, followed by Kheri 62 mm, Chuari 49 mm, Mehre 43 mm, Bilaspur 35 mm, Naina Devi and Ghamroor 32 mm each, Kangra and Bangana 30 mm.

Saloni and Pachhad received 26 mm of rains each, Jogindernagar and Guler 23 mm each, Amb and Nagrota Suriyan 20 mm each, Gaggal and Sujanpur Tira 19 mm each, Chamba 17 mm, Dharamshala 14 mm, Una 13.4 mm, Sundernagar and Chamba 17 mm, Manali 11 mm and Shimla 10 mm.

Strong icy winds lashed the region and sky remained heavily overcast, causing sharp fall in minimum temperatures which stood two to four notches below normal.

Keylong was coldest with a low of minus 0.9 degrees Celsius followed by Kusumseri which recorded a minimum temperature of 1.1 degrees Celsius, Kalpa 2 degrees Celsius, Narkanda 23 degrees Celsius, Dalhousie 2.9 degrees Celsius, Reckongpeo 5.3 degrees Celsius and Shimla 6 degrees Celsius.

The state received an average rainfall of 51.7 mm from March 1 to March 25 against normal rainfall of 97.6 mm, a deficit of 47 per cent.

Sirmaur and Solan districts received 79 and 19 per cent excess rains, while the rain deficit was 89 per cent in Lahaul and Spiti, 74 per cent in Kinnaur, 55 per cent in Kullu, 30 per cent in Chamba and 20 per cent in Hamirpur.

The inclement weather has closed 17 roads, including two national highways, for traffic and disrupted the functioning of 322 power transformers.