Heatwave scorches Himachal hills, wet spell from today

Shimla: Amid a heatwave alert, temperatures continued to rise across the low and mid hills of Himachal Pradesh on Monday, even as the weather department forecast a fresh spell of light rain and snowfall from Tuesday onwards. It also issued an orange alert for hailstorms, thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds at isolated places in the state on April 28 and 29.The weather department has forecast light rain and snowfall in the high hills of the state from April 28 to May 3, and light to moderate rain in the middle hills during the same period. In the low hills, light rain is likely from April 28 to May 1 and again on May 3.According to the Meteorological Centre, Shimla, both the maximum and minimum temperatures remained above normal in most parts of the state on Monday.Una was the hottest in the state with the highest maximum temperature of 42°C — 5.2°C above normal, followed by Kangra (36.7°C), Nahan and Sundernagar (36.5°C), Kangra (36.7°C), Mandi (36°C) and Bhuntar (34.4°C). Among the tourist destinations, Dharamshala was the warmest with a maximum temperature of 33.1°C, followed by Shimla (27.5°C) and Manali (27°C).Kukumseri in Lahaul-Spiti recorded the lowest minimum temperature at 6.4°C, while Shimla recorded a minimum temperature of 16.8°C — 3.3°C above normal; Dharamshala 18.5°C (0.7°C above normal); Kalpa 8.6°C (2.7°C above normal); Palampur 16.5°C (0.5°C above normal). Manali recorded the minimum temperature of 10.3°C (2.3°C).According to the department, the state recorded an average rainfall of 61.5 mm so far this month between April 1 and April 27, which is 5% more than the normal of 58.7 mm.MSID:: 130554860 413 |