Winter Wonderland! Shimla receives season's first snowfall

Himachal Pradesh’s capital Shimla received the season’s first snowfall on Wednesday, bringing cheers on the faces of tourists and local hoteliers.

Tourists gathered on the Ridge and Mall Road to experience snowfall. It has so far received 6.8 cm snowfall, the meteorological department said.

Snowfall is still continuing and hotels expect that tourists from nearby areas of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi will soon visit Shimla in a large numbers.

Another tourist destination, Kufri in Shimla district, received 7-cm snowfall. Narkanda and Theog have received 2 and 1.5-inch snowfall respectively, said Manmohan Singh, director of the Meteorological Centre, Shimla.

Tourist spot Dalhousie in Chamba district got 1.5-cm snowfall while Kalpa in Kinnaur, and Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district received 6-cm and 3-cm snowfall respectively, a district official said.

The lowest temperature was minus 6.2 degree Celsius in Keylong, while the minimum temperature in Shimla and Manali was 0.4 degree Celsius each. Kufri was shivering at minus 3.3 degree Celsius, while it was minus 0.7 degree Celsius in Dalhousie, the official said.

One or two spells of light-to-moderate rainfall and snowfall may occur in the state on Wednesday night, he said.

Meanwhile, several roads in various parts of the state remained blocked due to snowfall.

In Sirmaur district, high reaches received heavy snowfall, while lower hills were lashed with heavy rain. Roads leading to Haripur Dhar, Chopal and Nohra Dhar areas were closed for the vehicular traffic since early Wednesday morning as six inches snowfall have been recorded in these areas so far.

As per the information, four-feet snowfall was recorded at Churdhar, the highest reach of Sirmaur, a district official said, adding that Haripur Dhar received eight inches, Nohra Dhar four inches, Gatta Dhar seven inches, Bathau Dhar seven inches and Banali Dhar received eight inches of snow.

Machinery and labour had been deployed on the roads which were closed due to heavy snowfall, said Rattan Sharma, executive engineer, public works department, Sangrah division.

Photograph: PTI Photos