Snowfall, rain predicted till February 5 in Himachal

Shimla, February 2

The Weather Department has issued a fresh alert for light to moderate rainfall in plains and lower hills and light to moderate snowfall/rainfall in mid and high hills from tomorrow onwards until February 5. There is a possibility of isolated spells of heavy rain/snow in the districts of Kullu, Chamba, Shimla, Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti on February 4.

Shimla, which received its first snowfall in two years on Thursday, is likely to receive light to moderate snowfall in the upcoming spell of precipitation.

Already, the state has had a good spell of snow and rainfall over the last two days, leading to the blocking of over 700 roads and 2,200 distribution transformers all over the state as per the report released by State Disaster Management Authority today morning.

“The distribution transformers have been hit by both snow and rain in several parts of the state. Our field staff, however, is already on the job and we hope that by today evening more than 1,000 transformers will be fixed,” said Manoj Upreti, Director, Operations, Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited.

The worst hit districts in terms of road connectivity and power availability are Chamba, Kullu, Shimla, Lahaul and Spiti and Mandi. Due to the blocked road, several bus routes were suspended and several buses were stuck midway. In HRTC’s Shimla Division alone, as many as 272 routes were suspended and 104 buses were stuck midway, leaving hundreds of commuters in the lurch.

As per the Weather Department, the latest precipitation spell will continue till February 5, and thereafter the weather is likely to clear up. The spell is likely to accompanied with thunderstorm and lightning at few places in plains/low hills and mid-hills districts of the state on February 3-4. There is a likelihood of hailstorm at isolated places on February 4. Following the precipitation on February 1-2, there has been a marked fall in both minimum and maximum temperatures across the state.