M A I N   N E W S

Veil of fog lifts in region

CHANDIGARH, Jan 9 (UNI) — The entire tribal belt of Himachal Pradesh had a fresh snowfall, today while it was cloudy in the north-west plains with stable minimum temperatures and no fog, paving the way for a smooth road and rail traffic after over a week.

According to railway sources here, the Shatabdi, Himalayan Queen and other trains arrived on time with no unscheduled halts on way from New Delhi.

The weather office here said cloudy weather in the north-west plains held clear fog. But cold wave conditions continued in the area.

A report from Shimla said the Kullu valley had widespread rain after four months of dry spell, while the tribal belt of Himachal and the Pangi and Bharmaur valleys had fresh snowfall.

Shimla recorded 8°C as the minimum temperature which was four degrees above normal.

The city and its surrounding areas of Punjab and Haryana recorded 7°C as the minimum temperature.

In Punjab, the minimum temperature was 6°C in Amritsar, Patiala and Ludhiana were cold at 7.5°C and 6.1°C respectively.

In Haryana, Hisar recorded a minimum of 7°C. Ambala too recorded 7°C. It was 9.7°C in Rohtak.

Delhi recorded 8.2°C , one degree above normal, while the Palam observatory recorded 7.5°C in the morning.

The weather office has warned of rain and thundershowers at many places in Himachal Pradesh. It was also predicted rain at many places in Punjab and Haryana.

There is also a possibility of light rain with the prevailing cloudy weather in the city, the weather office added.

SRINAGAR: The high attitude areas of the Kashmir valley had fresh snowfall while plains had light rain on Sunday ending the dry winter.

Official sources said the Amarnath cave, Sheshnag, Panjtherni and Mahagunus had six inches to one feet of fresh snowfall since last evening.

Gulmarg, Khilanmarg, Yusmarg, Sonamarg, Pahalgam and Deksum had light snowfall since early this morning.

Srinagar and its adjoining areas also had a light rainfall.

A weather office spokesman told UNI that 0.5 mm of rainfall had been recorded so far.

He said the minimum temperature was recorded at 1.0°C while the maximum was 10.5°C .

Though some “disturbances” had arrived from the Arabian Sea, but these are not enough to have very heavy snowfall or rainfall.

He said there could be light snow or rainfall because of these disturbances.

A traffic police official said the Srinagar-Jammu national highway was open despite rainfall in the Qazigund sector.

PALAMPUR: Heavy snowfall in the past 48 hours has covered the Dhauladhar range with a thick carpet of snow but rain one again eluded the rest of Kangra district.