Kullu town gets season’s first snow

Our Correspondent

Kullu, February 8

Kullu town received the first snowfall of the season on Thursday night. The town received more than 1cm of snowfall, but it was washed away by the accompanying rain.

The entire Kullu valley was in a grip of cold wave following rain in the lower region and snow on the higher reaches. Mattikochhar, Mount Nag, Phungni Devi and Bijli Mahadev mountain peaks experienced fresh snowfall.

Many bus routes were affected due to the snowfall and commuters had to face inconvenience. The vehicular traffic on many link roads had also been disrupted due to snow and rainfall. The Aut-Luhri national highway was blocked again due to snowfall. However, there was no report of any major loss due to the inclement weather.

Residents preferred to remain indoors while a few revellers enjoyed the snowfall. Tourists had a good time in enjoying the snowfall in Manali and its suburbs. The sole Air India flight operating from Delhi to Kullu was also cancelled due to bad weather.

The snow came as a major relief for apple orchardists as it is considered as white manure for the apple trees. Nakul Khullar, a leading horticulturist here, stated that snow would help in providing minimum chilling period required for different varieties of apple plants ranging from 800 hours to 1,600 hours.