Snow in Himachal snaps road links

Shimla, Jan 26 (IANS) Several parts of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday received moderate to heavy snow, snapping road connectivity to many areas in the higher reaches.

Road links in upper Shimla towns were disrupted as snow covered the roads, officials said.

The road connectivity on the Kullu-Manali highway was also hampered as a thick blanket of snow covered the road near Patlikuhl, some 20 km before Manali.

Kinnaur and most of the upper areas of Shimla districts were closed as various link roads in Jubbal, Kotkhai, Kumarsain, Kharapathar, Rohru and Chopal were blocked by snow.

The minimum temperature recorded at Manali that saw more than 22 cm of snow was 0.6 degree Celsius below the freezing point, the weather office said.

Shimla, which saw overnight rains, recorded 29.2 mm of rains. Kalpa, some 250 km from Shimla, experienced 34 cm snow.

"High-altitude areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Kullu, Kinnaur, Sirmaur, Chamba, Mandi and Shimla districts have been experiencing snow since Tuesday," an official said.

Lower areas of the state, including Dharamsala, Palampur, Solan, Nahan, Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur and Mandi towns, received moderate to heavy rains, bringing a considerable fall in temperature.

Salooni in Chamba district saw the highest rainfall of 58 mm till 8 a.m.

The temperature was minus 0.8 degree in Kalpa, 8.7 degrees Celsius in Nahan and 6.8 degrees Celsius in Solan, which saw 21.4 mm of rain.

Tourist spots near Shimla, such as honeymooners' paradise Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda, experienced moderate snowfall, turning the hill stations even more picturesque.

The government has warned tourists not to venture into the high hills as chances of road cave-ins, landslides and heavy snowfall are high.