By IANS
Shimla : For the second consecutive day Tuesday, Himachal Pradesh experienced snowfall, adversely effecting the election campaign in the hill state.
Snow and sleet continued to fall in Shimla since Monday, which further intensified the cold condition. The upper parts of the town were covered in a mantle of white.
“It has snowed 15 cm in the last two days in Shimla. This is the first significant snowfall in the first half of December in the last decade (since 1997),” Manmohan Singh, head of the local meteorological office, told IANS here late Tuesday.
In recent years, the trend in the state is that the first snowfall occurs in January.
“The maximum temperature in Shimla Tuesday was 3.9 Degree Celsius and the minimum fell to minus 0.9 Degree Celsius,” Singh said.
Tourists have begun to throng Shimla and nearby places after hearing about the snowfall.
The usually busy highway and other roads leading to the apple belt in upper Shimla and Kinnaur district have been closed for traffic due heavy snowfall.
Farmers are celebrating the early snowfall as snow is considered white manure for apple cultivation.
Narkanda, the ski resort town 64 km from here, has received around 50 cm of snowfall since Monday.
The popular resort town of Manali, in the Kullu Valley some 280 km from here, has recorded over 30 cm of snowfall in the past two days.
Rohtang pass in the Kullu Valley and the sprawling Dhauladhar ranges in the Kangra Valley also experienced heavy snowfall.
It continued to snow at Dalhousie, a resort town in the Chamba Valley, thoughout Tuesday.
The sprawling tribal belt of Bharmaur, Lahaul & Spiti and Kinnaur received yet another spell of heavy snowfall as the entire region along with Dodra Kwar and Bharmaur continued to groan under severe cold.
Election campaigning for the Dec 19 assembly polls was affected by the bad weather.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh was unable to fly and address two election rallies in Shimla and Sirmaur districts.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi also failed to address two election rallies due to rain and fog in Kangra and Mandi districts Tuesday.