Fresh snow, rain send mercury plunging in HP

Kullu: Parts of low and mid hills of Himachal Padesh recorded light to moderate rain and many areas of high hills received light snowfall for the second day on Saturday even as landslides were reported from Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti districts.It rained in parts of Chamba, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Kangra and Kinnaur districts and higher reaches, including Atal Tunnel, Gondhla, Sissu, Keylong, Jispa, Darcha, Sumdo, Kaza, and mountain passes like Rohtang Pass and Shinkula. Parts of the Pangi valley in Chamba district also received snowfall on Saturday.According to the district disaster management authority, Lahaul-Spiti, a total of 155 roads, including Darcha to Sarchu, Darcha to Shinkula Pass and Gramphu to Batal, remained blocked in the district due to snowfall.The Kinnaur-Spiti highway was blocked due to a landslide at Malling Nalla on Saturday morning. The highway was reopened after a few hours by a team of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). In Kullu district, the Manikaran-Barshaini road in the popular tourist destination of Parvati valley was again blocked due to a landslide at Ghatigarh. Risking their lives, many tourists were forced to cross this highly landslide-prone stretch on foot. This link road, which connects Manikaran with the popular tourist village of Barshaini that is also the gateway to the popular trekking destination of Kheerganga, has been blocked at least a dozen times due to landslides at Ghatigarh since January.Hailstorms were also recorded in some parts of the state, including Balh Valley in Mandi district and in several parts of Shimla and Kullu districts.According to the mcteorological Centre, Shimla, it rained the highest 15.8 mm in Chamba district, followed by 12.4 mm in Solan, 9.4 mm each in Kangra and Lahaul-Spiti districts, 8.9 mm in Kullu, 8.7 mm each in Kinnaur and Mandi districts and 8.1 mm in Shimla district till 8.30 am on Saturday.Overall, Himachal Pradesh recorded an average rainfall of 9.3 mm, which was 286% more than the normal of 2.4 mm, by Saturday morning.Tabo recorded the lowest minimum temperature of 0.6 degrees on Saturday. Among the tourist destinations, Shimla recorded the minimum temperature of 9.4 degrees C, Palampur 12 degrees, Manali 7.2 degrees and Kasauli 13.5 degrees Celsius.The maximum temperature also dropped by several notches across the state on Saturday. Manali recorded the maximum temperature of 11.8 degrees C, which was 8.1 degrees below normal; Kangra 22.6 degrees, a drop of 7.8 degrees; Solan 22 degrees, 5.2 degrees below normal; and Sundernagar 21.9 degrees, 6.9 degrees below normal.Una recorded the highest maximum temperature of 30.6 degrees C, which was 1.7 degrees below normal.Meanwhile, the weather department has issued a yellow alert for thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds in parts of the state on April 5.