It’s a white Sunday in Shimla

Kuldeep Chauhan 
Tribune News Service 
Shimla, January 6

After a dry spell of three whole days, Shimla finally witnessed snowfall on Sunday morning.

Even as the rest of Himachal continued to see snow in bouts, three days of dry, overcast days in Shimla left tourists disappointed. Snowfall began at 11 am in the hill town.

Meanwhile, snow continued to fall intermittently over tourist towns of Kufri, Manali and Dalhousie as well as Narkanda and Chopal on Sunday. Higher reaches of the state such as Lahaul Spiti and Kinnaur have reportedly witnessed moderate to heavy snowfall over the past 24 hours.

Heavy snow has reportedly blocked border roads such as Manali-Keylong-Leh in Lahaul Spiti and Rampur-Kaurik in Kinnaur.

High snowline areas in Lahaul Spiti, Chamba, Kinnaur and Kangra districts have been seeing intermittent snow since two days.

Popular ski resort Solang Valley—a few minutes’ drive from Manali—has received 10-15 cm of snow. Kullu’s Jalori Pass, which stands at 12,000 feet above sea level, also witnessed heavy snow, leading to the Kullu-Ani-Rampur road being blocked. 

The apple belt of Jubbal, Kotkai, Tikkar and Rohru continues to remain dry even though the sky has been overcast for three days now, disappointing apple farmers.

Rohtang Pass, which is currently closed for traffic, was buried under 2-3 feet of fresh snow. 

Keylong recorded about 13 cm of snowfall, Kothi 35 cm, Gramphu 20 cm, and Udaipur 15 cm, weather reports said here.  

There are reports of snowfall from Chamba’s Pangi-Bharmour region, Kangra’s Barbangal and Dhauladhar, Mandi’s Shikari Devi, Kinner and Shrikhand Kailash ranges, Shimla’s Dodra Kawar and Kharpather, as well as Haripurdhar and Churdhar.

Snowfall affected traffic on the road from Shimla to Kufri and Narkanda but the highway remains open, a police official said. Traffic disruptions were also witnessed on the roads leading to Chopal, Rohru and Jubbal because of snow in Khirki, Charki and Kharapathar. 

Tourist resort Manali recorded 9-13 mm rain, Kinnaur’s Kalpa 3 cm, and Chopal 7 cm till 10:30 am on Sunday.

Una recorded 21.8 mm rain, Palampur 15.7 mm, Kangra 8.7 mm, Bhuntar in Kullu 8.6 mm, Chamba’s Saluni and Mandi 8 mm, Chamba 3 mm and Sundernagar 1.2 mm.

Mercury plunged further in the state. Temperature at Keylong in Lahaul Spiti stood at -8.7 degrees Celsius, Kalpa at -3.8 degrees, Kufri at -3 degrees, Manali at -1.2 degrees, Shimla 1.7 degrees, Dharmshala at 2 degrees , Solan 2.5 degrees, Nahan 4.7 degrees, Bhuntar 5 degrees, Kangra 5.7 degrees, Chamba 6 degrees, Sundernagar 6.6 degrees, Kangra 7 degrees, Una 7.2 degrees, Bilasur 7.6 degrees and Hamirpur 8 degrees.

Indian Meteorological Department has predicted heavy snow in many parts of the state for the next 24 hours.