Heavy snowfall hugs Shimla as hailstorm pounds Dehradun

Himachal Pradesh’s popular tourist destinations of Shimla and Manali received more snowfall on Monday.

The state capital saw a minimum temperature of -2.9 degree Celsius, the season’s lowest. CM Prem Kumar Dhumal on Monday cancelled his Manali visit due to inclement weather. Shimla has recorded 24.6 centimetres of snow. Besides Shimla, upper areas like Narkanda, Jubbal, Kotkhai and Khada Pathar experienced heavy snowfall, according to a Met official here. Manali, too, received moderate snow. Incessant snow also hampered vehicular traffic on the highways in Shimla, Kinnaur, Chamba and Kullu districts.

Met department forecasts western disturbances - storm systems originating from the Caspian Sea and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region - would start withdrawing on Monday.

Hailstorm in Dehradun

People of Dehradun thought that the city was receiving snowfall, but now, the weather department has clarified that it was a hailstorm that struck the city around 4:45 am.

“People have exaggerated the whole thing and hyped the hailstorm to be snow,” said Anand Kumar Sharma, director of the meteorological department at Dehradun. The minimum temperature was 6.2 degree Celsius.

“There will be heavy rains in the city in the next 24 hours whereas the higher regions of Kumaon and Garhwal are expected to have more snowfall in the next 36 hours,” Sharma added.