Srinagar, February 12: After much delay, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and parts of Uttarakhand have been experiencing intermittent snowfall since early hours of Monday, while widespread rains lashed the lower hills of the state.
Himachal Pradesh
In Himachal Pradesh, the entire Kinnaur district and areas of Shimla district such as Jubbal, Narkanda, Kotkhai, Kumarsain, Rohru, Kharapathar and Chopal are cut off due to snow, said Shimla DC Amit Kashyap.
The snowfall has not only cheered the tourism industry but also apple growers and other farmers in Shimla.
This is the second snowfall of this season. As news of the snowfall spread, tourists started arriving here and nearby Kufri Narkanda, Mashbora and Manali.
Normal life was disrupted in the upper Shimla area as roads were closed due to snowfall, while the Hindustan-Tibet road at Narkanda was blocked and the traffic was diverted through Basantpur and Kingal.
Shimla District Commissioner Amit Kashyap said traffic was suspended beyond Dhalli as a precautionary measure earlier but now the roads in the upper Shimla are through and only the Rampur-bound HRTC buses are diverted via Basantpur.
“There is no traffic disruption in Shimla city and all roads leading to hospitals are opened,” he added.
The local Meteorological (MeT) office had warned of snow at the mid and higher hills and forecast rains and snowfall for the next two days.
Kothi received 15 cm of snow, followed by Keylong 11 cm, Bharmaur 10 cm, Narkanda 8 cm, Theog 3 cm, Kufri 2 cm, Kalpa 1.6 cm, Jubbal 1.3 cm and Mashobara 0.5 cm.
Sabgraha was wettest with 31 mm of rains followed by Nahan 23.1 mm, Solan 21mm, Dharmsala 20 mm, Berthin 18.2 mm, Dharampur 15.2 mm, Hamirpur 15 mm, Kotkhai 15 mm, Naina Devi 12.2 mm, Manali 9 mm, Una 7 mm, Shimla 5.8 mm.
The minimum temperatures fluctuated marginally and Keylong was coldest in the region with a low of minus 4.9 degrees Celsius, followed by Kufri at minus 1.8 degrees Celsius, Kalpa at minus 1 degrees Celsius.
The key tourists resorts of Shimla and Manali recorded a minimum temperature at 0.2 degrees Celsius and 1.1 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Kashmir
In Kashmir, the snowfall snapped Kashmir’s links with the rest of the country as the arterial Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was closed due to the accumulation of snow around Jawahar Tunnel in the Qazigund area.
“Due to slippery road conditions and fresh snowfall at the Jawahar tunnel and other areas, the highway has been closed,” a senior traffic department official said.
The traffic authorities have stopped vehicular movement at the Nagrota check post in Jammu and Qazigun.
The snowfall also led to poor visibility at the Srinagar airport, disrupting the air traffic.
“Current visibility is 600 metres and the runway is not available up to 10.30 am due snowfall. The situation will be reviewed after that,” an official of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) here said.
This is the first major snowfall in Kashmir this winter, which was largely dry so far.
There was some snowfall in early December last year and since then the weather has been mostly dry.
According to the Meteorological (MeT) Department officials, the month of January was the driest in terms of rainfall in Kashmir in the past 38 years.
The snowfall has led traffic snarls on all major roads as continuous snowfall has hampered the efforts of the authorities to clear the snow from roads, officials said.
Meanwhile, the minimum temperature across the Valley stayed around the freezing point, except for Gulmarg, the skiing resort in north Kashmir where the mercury settled at minus 4.6 degrees Celsius.
Kargil in the Ladakh region continued to be the coldest place in the state at minus 14 degrees Celsius, while nearby Leh town was also freezing at minus 11.3 degrees Celsius last night, the MeT officials said.
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand’s Tehri received fresh snowfall on Monday. The destination received its first snowfall this year. The glimpses seems straight out from a fairy tale. The fresh snowfall might be beneficial for the state as it might attract tourists, who wish to experience a frosty weather one more time.
On Sunday, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a warning of heavy snowfall at higher reaches of Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Pithoragarh districts on Monday. The IMD had also issued a hailstorm warning for isolated places in Dehradun, Haridwar, Pauri and Nainital districts.