Shimla, January 21
Normal life in middle and higher reaches of the state was disrupted, following a fresh round of snow and rain.

The entire tribal belt and other higher hills have been experiencing intermittent snow since morning. The upper areas in Kinnuar had 20 cm of snowfall by the evening. The people reeled under severe cold as the mercury remained below the freezing point.

The Hatu peak, overlooking Narkanda, the Dhauladhar range and the Churdhar received 30 cm to 50 cm of snowfall. Karapathar, Nerwa, the Rohtang Pass, Solang Nullah and higher reaches of the Saketi range also had heavy snowfall.

The city experienced the second round of snowfall of the season within a gap of three days. While the Ridge and the Mall had 5 cm of snowfall, Mount Jakhu, the highest point, had 10 cm. The nearby tourist resort of Kufri and Fagu had also been having intermittent snowfall since morning. Slippery road conditions near Kufri affected traffic on the Hindustan-Tibet road. The uphill traffic took the Bhalku road via Mashobra.

About 20 buses which were on way to Shimla from Rohru, Chopal and other places were stranded near Kufri as snow blocked the road late this evening.

The Hindustan-Tibet road, which was opened only yesterday, has been again blocked due to heavy snow at Narkanda. The Rampur-bound buses have been diverted via Basantpur.

MANDI: With the Manali-based Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) predicting a medium to heavy snowfall in the Manali and Lahaul valley region for the next three days, snowstorms and avalanche threaten Dhundhi in the upper Manali and Patseo region in the Lahaul valley.

Sounding the snowstorms alert in the Manali region, which has received over 3 cm to 5 cm of snowfall till the filing of this story, scientists at SASE told The Tribune on the phone that the risk of snowstorms in the avalanche-prone upper Manali valley and Patseo region had increased.

Inputs received here revealed that Manali had already recorded over 3 cm of snowfall, Rohtang pass had over 10 ft of snow and peaks of Bhrigu, Fatru, Manalsu and Deo Tiba, Chandrakhani pass and Mantalie glacier in the Pin-Parbati Jot had been covered under the thick coat of snow over the past three days.

Keylong had received over 1 cm of snowfall till 5 pm, triggering a bone-chilling wave in the valley.

DALHOUSIE: Dalhousie has been experiencing fresh snowfall since this morning and so far about 15 cm of snowfall has been recorded. Khajjiar and Jot tourist spots have been covered under a thick cover of snow, thereby attracting a number of tourists to view the snow on the mountain ranges of northwestern Himalayas in Chamba district and the adjoining Pir Panjal hills in Jammu and Kashmir.

The low-lying areas of this region had drizzling. The entire Chamba region is in the grip of biting cold waves.

SRINAGAR: Heavy snowfall disrupted normal life in Srinagar and other parts of the valley today as the state continued to reel under piercing cold conditions with mercury plummeting to 0.4° Celsius.

According to Met department sources, drizzling started at around 5.45 am and was followed by snow in the city and elsewhere in the valley.

Srinagar recorded 0.4 mm of snowfall till 8.30 am when minimum temperature dipped to 0.4° Celsius, a spokesman of the Met office told PTI.

Reports of moderate to heavy snowfall were also received from tourist resorts of Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg.

CHANDIGARH: The entire North today reeled under severe cold wave as overcast conditions prevailed throughout the day and maximum temperatures plunged several degrees below the normal range.

Jet Airways cancelled its flight to Chandigarh due to bad weather conditions.

The plains of Punjab and Haryana also witnessed a cold day today. Chandigarh recorded its coldest day as the maximum plummeted to touch 15.2°C.

Amritsar: The border city here is reeling under coldest weather conditions with the temperature dipping to minus 2.6 degree Celsius yesterday. However, the temperature rose to 3°C today. Life here has been thrown out of gear with unprecedented power cuts.

Some deaths have gone unreported in the recent days due to chilly conditions. The fluctuating power supply has also led to severe water shortage.