By IANS,
Shimla : Popular tourist resort Manali and its nearby destinations in Himachal Pradesh turned more picturesque with fresh spells of snow, triggering a rush of holidaymakers there.
The minimum temperature recorded at Manali that saw 7.5 cm of snow was 1.2 degrees Celsius below the freezing point, the weather office here said.
“Manali and the hills overlooking it experienced snow for the third consecutive day Sunday,” an official at the meteorological office told IANS.
Picturesque Kalpa, some 250 km from Shimla, experienced 5 cm of snow. The town saw a low of minus 1.6 degrees Celsius.
Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest place in the state with temperature slipping to minus 6.6 degrees Celsius, while it was 6.2 degrees above the freezing point in Dharamsala and 3.8 degrees in Shimla.
District Tourism Officer Balbir Thakur said this weekend saw a good arrival of tourists in Manali mainly due to snow. Manali and nearby tourist destinations have good snow cover and would stay covered in snow for the next few days, he added.
The weatherman said the western disturbances are expected to recede after Dec 18, and the weather would be dry after that.