The high altitude tribal areas had
fresh spell of intermittent snowfall while the mid and lower hills were lashed by rains and hailstorm, causing damage to apple crop.
Shimla and its surrounding areas were lashed by hailstorm, followed by intermittent showers, causing sharp fall in mercury which dropped by three to seven degrees.
The apple crop in lower belt, which is in setting stage suffered widespread damage and standing wheat crop was flattened in some areas in the lower hills.
The Western Disturbance triggered another spell of fresh snowfall on higher reaches and Keylong and Kalpa in Lahaul and Spiti and Kalpa in Kinnuar registered four centimetre snowfall recorded 15 cm to 20 cm of snow while the Rohtang Pass had 30 cm of fresh snowfall.
The sprawling Dhauladhar ranges in Kangra, Churdhar ranges in Sirmaur and other high hills and Baralacha, Kunjum, Saach and Chansel passes, Shrikhand and Kinner Kailash mountains are experiencing intermittent snowfall accompanied by strong velocity icy winds since yesterday morning.
Kufri, Fagu, Gullu, Cheog, Mashobra and nearby areas of Shimla were lashed with hailstorm causing damage to apple crop and hampering vehicular traffic, Deputy Commissioner Shimla Dinesh Malhotra said.
Widespread rains occurred in Himachal during past 24 hours with Banjar wettest in the region with 19 mm of rains, followed by Seobagh and Pandoh in Mandi 13 mm, Karsog and Palampur 12 mm each, Bhuntar 11 mm, Bajaura 10 mm, Baijnath Dalhousie 9 mm, Mandi, Shimla, Rampur and Kufri 8 mm each.
Maximum and minimum temperatures decreased by 2 to 3 degree Celsius with Keylong and Kalpa recording minimum temperatures at minus 1.1 deg C and 0.4 deg C, while Manali and Saluni recorded a low of 3.0 deg and 5.5 deg, followed by Bhuntar 6.6 deg, Shimla 6.8 deg and Sundernagar 9 deg C.
Una was hottest in the region with maximum temperature at 30.2 deg C while Sundernagar and Bhuntar recorded a high 24. 9 deg, Nahan 25.3 deg, Dharamsala 23.8 deg, Solan 21.7 deg, Shimla 18.4 deg and Kalpa 13.6 deg C, three to four degree below normal.
The local MeT office has predicted rain or snow at isolated places in higher reaches and dry weather in the rest of the state during next 24 hours.
