Intense cold wave grips Himachal

Shimla, Feb 18 An intense cold wave gripped most parts of Himachal Pradesh on Monday with the weather office predicting more rain and snowfall in store.

Shimla, which saw mild rain and snow, recorded a low of 1.7 degrees Celsius, while its neighboring tourist resort Kufri, which saw 4 cm snow, recorded the night temperature at minus 2.9 degrees.

While tourist spot Narkanda saw good spells of snow, Kasauli and Chail in Solan district received rain.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district saw 7 cm of snow, whereas Manali in Kullu district received 11 mm rain. However, Dalhousie in Chamba got mild snow.

The Rohtang Pass (13,050 feet) and the Baralacha Pass (16,020 ft) - located on the Manali-Leh highway - experienced heavy snowfall.

Kalpa recorded a minimum temperature of minus 3.8 degrees Celsius, while it was 0.8 degrees in Manali and 4.2 degrees in Dharamsala.

Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti district was the coldest in the state with a minimum of minus 8.4 degrees Celsius.

Met officials said the entire tribal belt in Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Kullu and Chamba districts witnessed heavy snowfall in the past for days.

Widespread rainfall was also reported across the mid and lower hills.

The weather forecast said the western disturbances - storm systems originating from Caspian Sea in the Central Asia and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region - would be active in the region till February 21.