Himachal sunny after overnight snow

Shimla, Feb 8 (IANS) The Himachal Pradesh's capital on Friday woke up to a sunny morning with plentiful snowfall overnight, hampering traffic and snapping of electricity cables.

"It was bright and sunny across the state after a day of widespread snow and rain," an official of the Met Office told IANS.

Snow hit vehicular movement beyond Shimla town. The entire Kinnaur district is cut off. However, there was no loss of life.

The minimum temperature was minus 2.4 degrees Celsius in Shimla, which saw 36 cm of snow.

Shimla's nearby destinations like Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda experienced moderate to heavy snowfall in the past 24 hours.

Kothi tourist resort near Manali saw 65 cm snow, heaviest in the state.

Manali, which saw the night temperature at minus five degrees Celsius, had 35 cm snow.

Snow could be seen in large areas of Shimla like the Mall Road, Ridge, US Club and Jakhu hills and would stay for a one-two days.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district saw a low of minus 7 degrees, while the minimum temperature was 0.4 degrees Celsius in Dharamsala.

Rains lashed towns in lower hills in Himachal Pradesh such as Dharamsala, Palampur, Solan, Nahan, Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur and Mandi, pushing down the mercury. Dharamsala recorded 98 mm of rain, the highest in the state.

The Met said another western disturbance -- storm systems originating from Caspian Sea and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region -- has almost withdrawn.