It’s raining snow in Himachal

A man walks on a snow covered road during snowfall in Lahaul & Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh on Monday.

The entire high altitude belt of the hill State on Monday experienced a moderate snowfall and the middle and lower hills witnessed a heavy rainfall thereby bringing the temperature down by at least 10 degrees.

According to the Met Office the high peaks of tribal Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur districts received good spells of snowfall, with Kalpa in Kinnaur and Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti receiving 2 to 3 inches of snowfall.

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

Lower areas of the State, including Dharamsala, Shimla, Solan, Nahan and Bilaspur received moderate to heavy rain, bringing the temperature down considerably.

The maximum temperature of Shimla fell to 11.5 degrees Celsius from Sunday’s 21 degrees. There was hardly any tourist movement on Monday in the hill resorts due to this sudden fall and unpreparedness for this type of weather.

The rain is being considered good for the Rabi and the vegetable crops by the local farmers. A few centimetres of early snow in the Kullu-Manali region have brought cheers to the people related to tourism industry.

There are also reports of modest snowfall from higher reaches and intermittent rains in lower areas of Mandi district. High peaks of Shikari Devi and Barot in the district have also experienced first snowfall of this season. Dhauladhar in Kangra and Pangi, Bharmaur in Chamba also received the first generous spell of snow On Monday.