The mercury rose by a few notches in most parts of Himachal Pradesh inspite of cloudy weather.
The maximum temperature rose to 37 degree Celsius at Una in Shivalik hills while Sundernagar and Nahan recorded a high of 31.9 deg C, followed by Bhuntar 29.5 deg C, Solan 29 deg C, Dharamsala 25.5 deg C, Shimla 23.6 deg C and Kalpa 17 deg C.
Despite heavily overcast sky in Shimla and adjoining areas, the weather mainly remained dry and farmers busy harvesting the wheat crop, heaved a sigh of relief.
Strong winds swept the region causing damage to stone fruit crop in mid and higher hills but there was no damage to apple crop which is at the setting stage.
The picturesque tourist resort of Manali was coldest in the region with minimum temperature at 6 deg C, while Keylong and Kalpa in tribal districts of Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur also recorded a low of 6 deg C and 8.2 deg C respectively.
Una was hottest during the night also with minimum temperature at 17.7 deg C while Nahan recorded a low of 17 deg C, followed by Sundernagar 16.6 deg C, Solan 16 deg C, Palampur 15.5 deg C, Bhuntar 14.8 deg C, Dharamsala 14.6 deg C and Shimla 14.4 deg C, 2 notches above normal.
The local MeT office has predicted rains or thunderstorms at isolated places across the state during next 24 hours and rains in higher and mid hills over next two days.
