The meteorological department has issued a ‘yellow warning’ of heavy rain and snow at isolated places in mid and high hills and thunderstorm, lightning and hailstorm in plain areas and low hills in Himachal Pradesh on January 24.
Heavy rain and snow is likely in Chamba, Kangra, Mandi, Kullu, Shimla, Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur districts, it said. It also predicted light to moderate rain in low hills and light to moderate snow in mid and high hills for the next four days till January 25. Meanwhile, Manali on Saturday received fresh 12 cm of snow, followed by Gondla 11 cm, Dalhousie 8 cm, Kalpa 7 cm, Saloni and Sangla 6 cm each, Tissa, Pooh and Hansa 5 cm each.
At least, 328 roads, including 182 in Lahaul and Spiti district, 55 in Kullu, 32 in Shimla, 29 in Kinnaur, 17 in Mandi, 11 in Chamba and two in Kangra district, were closed following snowfall, officials said. The occupancy in the hotels in the state capital, Shimla, has risen to about 70 percent, said president Tourism Industry Stakeholders Association M K Seth, attributing the increase to weekend and snowfall. The tourism industry and apple growers are pinning hope on frequent spells of snowfall for a better season.
With frequent spells of rain in the past week, the rain deficit in the state in the current winter season from January 1 to 21 reduced to 44 percent and the agriculturists in the rain-fed areas have heaved a sigh of relief. On Saturday, light to moderate precipitation occurred at most of the places in the state and Bharmaur received 16 mm of rain followed by Jogindernagar 15 cm, Palampur and Tinder 14 cm each, Dharmshala 13 cm, Bhoranj, Nadaun, Guler, Dehra, Banjar 12 mm each, Nalagarh 11 mm, Sujanpur Tira, Bharari, Baijnath and Tissa 10 mm each, the MeT office said.
