Shimla : Himachal Pradesh’s popular tourist destinations Shimla and Manali Saturday received more snow, giving them a picturesque look.
This was the season’s significant snowfall that froze the “Queen of Hills”, as Shimla was fondly called by the British.
The snowfall has brought down the minimum temperature to minus 0.3 degree Celsius, the season’s lowest.
According to the Met Office here, certain areas of Shimla like the Mall Road, the Ridge, the US Club and Jakhu hills got more than a foot of snow.
Other picturesque tourist resorts Chail and Kasauli in Solan district and Dalhousie in Chamba district have been experiencing snow.
“High-altitude areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba, Mandi, Kullu, Kinnaur, Sirmaur and Shimla districts have been experiencing moderate to heavy snow for the past two days,” a Met official said.
Kalpa in Kinnaur district, which saw 37.4 cm snow, recorded a low of minus 4.8 degrees Celsius, while the temperature was minus 1.2 degrees Celsius in Manali with a snow of more than two feet and minus 6.8 degrees in Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti district.
Salooni in Chamba district saw 18 cm snow.
Traffic movement beyond Dhalli, 10 km from here, remained suspended Saturday since a large stretch of the Hindustan-Tibet Road was under a thick blanket of snow.
The entire Kinnaur district and towns in Shimla district such as Narkanda, Jubbal, Kotkhai, Kumarsain, Kharapathar, Rohru and Chopal are cut off due to heavy snow, a government official said.
Connectivity on the Kullu-Manali national highway remained snapped near Patlikuhl, some 20 km before Manali.