Himachal Pradesh reeled under biting cold wave conditions on Tuesday as mercury hovered around freezing point in several parts of the state.
The water pipes froze and burst at many places in mid and higher hills, thick ground frost occurred and slippery roads hampered vehicular movement in the morning hours. About 600 roads in interior areas were closed due to snow and the Public Works Department, which has cleared 282 roads, expressed hope that all the roads would be opened in next three days.
The area beyond Manali in Kullu district and Tapri in Kinnaur district remained cut off for the third day today and hundreds of people stranded at Manali were rescued and left for their destinations as Manali-Kiratpur road was opened up to Manali on Tuesday.
The Hindustan-Tibet National Highway was opened for light vehicles via Narkanda but Shimla-Rohroo road was closed beyond Jubbal. The Kullu and Manali areas remained without electricity for the third day and Electricity Board was making efforts to erect the collapsed poles and damaged power transmission lines.
The high altitude tribal areas reeled under arctic conditions with mercury staying between minus 10º and minus 20º C while people in Keylong in tribal lahaul Spiti district experienced the coldest night with mercury dipping to minus 9.6º C. Manali and Kalpa recorded minimum temperatures at minus 4.2º, and minus 3.8º respectively.
While mercury hovered around freezing point at 0.2º at Bhuntar and 0.7º in Shimla, followed by Sundernagar 1.5º, Mandi 1.7º, Solan, Palampur, Una and Chamba 2.5º each, Nahan 3.3º and Dharamsala 3.8º. The day temperature rose significantly by eight to ten degrees as sun shone over large tracts of land and Una was hottest with a high of 19.6º while Sundernagar recorded maximum temperature at 17.5º.
Solan recorded a maximum of 15.0º, Nahan 14.2º, Dharamshala 12.6º, Bhunter 10.5º, Shimla 10.0º, Kalpa 5.0º and Manali 3.2º Celsius. The local MeT office has predicted dry weather in the region for next five days.
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