Manali, Kalpa in Himachal get snowfall

Some parts of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday received snowfall but it continued to elude the capital, Met said.

The tourist resorts of Manali and Kalpa again experienced moderate snow. The minimum temperature recorded at Manali, that saw two cm of snow, was minus five degrees Celsius, the weather office here said.

"Manali and the hills overlooking it experienced mild to moderate spells of snow," Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office here, told IANS.

He said picturesque Kalpa, some 250 km from Shimla, also experienced five cm of snow.

"The high-altitude areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba, Mandi, Kullu and Kinnaur districts also experienced snow," the official said.

Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest place in the state with a low of 9.3 degrees Celsius below the freezing point, while it was minus eight degrees in Kalpa, 4.2 degrees in Dharamsala, 0.5 degree in Palampur and minus 1.4 degrees in Dalhousie.

The state capital saw a low of minus 0.6 degree, the season's lowest.

As news of the snowfall spread across the plains, tourists started arriving at Manali and the nearby hills.

The weatherman said the weather would remain dry after Thursday as the western disturbances would recede from the region.