The upper reaches of Uttarakhand received fresh snowfall on Thursday while the lower areas were lashed by heavy rains, the meteorological department said.

Areas located above 2,500 metres above the sea level in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts received fresh snowfall and the lower areas in most of the districts were hit by rains adding to chill all over the state, it said.

The Met office said it started snowing in Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib, Rudranath and Panchkedar temples in Chamoli district and at Kedarnath in Rudraprayag district early in the morning and continued intermittently.

Cold winds blowing from the hills swept the plains which also received showers in varying degrees, it said.

It rained intermittently in Dehradun throughout the day. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi who arrived here on way to Rudrapur to address a rally was held up at the Jolly Grant airport here for over four hours due to bad weather.

The prime minister arrived here at around 7 am but could leave in an IAF helicopter for his onward journey only at 11.15 am, a senior police official said.

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