Widespread snowfall, rain in Himachal snap road links

Shimla, Jan 26 (IANS) Several parts of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday received moderate to heavy snowfall, snapping road connectivity to many areas in the higher reaches.

Road links in upper Shimla towns were disrupted as fresh snow covered the roads, officials said.

The vehicular movement on the Kullu-Manali highway was also hampered as a thick blanket of snow covered the road near Patlikuhl, some 20 km before Manali.

Educational institutions in Kullu district will be closed for two days from Friday due to heavy snowfall.

Kinnaur district and most of the upper areas of Shimla district were closed as various link roads in Jubbal, Kotkhai, Kumarsain, Kharapathar, Rohru and Chopal were blocked by snow.

The minimum temperature at Manali, that saw more than 22 cm of snowfall, was 0.6 degree Celsius below the freezing point, the weather office said. Kothi, near Manali, saw 60 cm of snowfall.

Shimla, which saw a low of 4 degrees Celsius, recorded 29.2 mm of rainfall. Kalpa, some 250 km from Shimla, experienced 34 cm snowfall.

"High-altitude areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Kullu, Kinnaur, Sirmaur, Chamba, Mandi and Shimla districts have been experiencing snowfall since Tuesday," an official said.

Lower areas of the state, including Dharamsala, Palampur, Solan, Nahan, Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur and Mandi towns, received moderate to heavy rain, bringing a considerable fall in temperature.

Naina Devi in Bilaspur district recorded the rainfall of 60 mm till 8 a.m.

The temperature was minus 0.8 degree in Kalpa, 8.7 degrees Celsius in Nahan and 6.8 degrees Celsius in Solan, which also had 21.4 mm of rain.

Tourist spots near Shimla, such as honeymooners' paradise Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda, experienced moderate snowfall, turning the hill stations even more picturesque.

The government has warned tourists not to venture into the high hills as chances of road cave-ins, landslides and heavy snowfall are high.

The weatherman said another western disturbance would hit the region on January 28, with chances of more rain and snow.

Western Disturbance is a meteorological term for a storm system originating in the Mediterranean Sea, which causes snowfall or rain in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent.