Snow, rain in Himachal; mercury dips

Day temperature dipped across Himachal Pradesh today as high altitude tribal areas and other high mountain ranges had another spell of snowfall and the mid and lower hills received widespread rain, ending the four-week long dry spell.
Kalpa and Keylong in tribal Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts received 15 cm and 10 cm of snow while the mighty Rohtang Pass, Kunzam pass and Saach pass had 40 cm, 35 cm and 30 cm of snow, respectively.
The sprawling Dhauladhar hills in Kangra and Churdhar ranges in Sirmour had 30 cm and 35 cm of snow. Kharapathar, Narkanda, Fagu and Kufri recorded 10 cm, 9 cm, 6 cm an 5 cm of snowfall.

State capital Shimla had 12.5 mm of rainfall.
The high altitude tribal areas, covered under a thick blanket of snow, reeled under intense cold wave conditions with the mercury staying eight to 15 degrees below the freezing point.
Kalatop was the wettest in the region with 32 mm rains, followed by Shimla 14.2 mm; Annu and Chelsea 13 mm each; Manali 10 mm; Bhuntar 8 mm; Kufri, Bajaura, Jubbal and Chail 5 mm each; and Kasauli and Rekong Peo 4 mm each.

Keylong and Kalpa recorded minimum temperatures at minus 3.3 degrees and minus 1.8 degrees, while Bhuntar recorded a low of 2.4 degrees, followed by Solan 5.0, Shimla 6.2, Dharamsala 7.6, Palampur and Sundernagar 9.0, Nahan 9.6 and Una 11.7 degrees Celsius, the local MeT office said.

Day temperatures dropped marginally and Nahan was the hottest in the region with a maximum temperature of 19.4 degrees Celsius. Una recorded a high of 15.2 degrees Celsius, followed by Dharamsala 14.6, Solan 14.5, Sundernagar 11.7, Bhuntar 11.5, Shimla 8.4, and Kalpa 2.0 degrees Celsius.
The local MeT office has predicted more rain and snow in the region in the next two days.