Himachal Pradesh receives fresh snowfall, more likely in next 48 hours: IMD

Himachal Pradesh was covered in a thick blanket of snow on Friday after it received fresh snowfall overnight.

"Snowfall is going on. Malana village in Kullu district received fresh snowfall. As a result, people found themselves in "knee-deep" snow", said India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials.

"In the Kullu district, the sky will partly be cloudy with a relative humidity of around 90 per cent for the next two days, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast.

Minimum and maximum temperatures would oscillate between 4 degrees Celsius and 9 degrees Celsius, added IMD.

In the higher reaches, Narkanda and the Mandhol village of Shimla district also received snowfall on Friday.

Due to 2 feet of fresh snowfall at Mandhol village, the entire area is wrapped in snow, while the Narkanda area has received half a foot of fresh snowfall.

Traffic movement has been affected due to the snowfall causing problems in commuting. The administration has suspended the movement of tourist vehicles beyond Solanganala.

The India Meteorological Department forecasted snowfall in higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh during the next two days. The IMD has forecasted moderate snowfall during the next two days in the Kinnaur, Chamba, Lahaul -Spiti, Shimla and Kullu districts of the state.

As per IMD, after January 14, the weather is expected to remain dry, while a cold wave alert in the lower districts of Hamirpur, Bilaspur, Una and Mandi has been sounded in the region.

"The higher reaches in Himachal Pradesh during the past 24 hours received fresh snowfall. Kothi in Kullu district received 15CM snowfall, Hansa in Lahaul-Spiti recorded 9 cm fresh snowfall and higher reaches of Shimla district recorded 5 of a fresh snowfall," said IMD Senior Scientist HP Sandeep Kumar Sharma.

He added that during the next 48 hours, the higher reaches in Kinnaur, Chamba, Lahaul-Spiti, Kullu and Shimla districts are expected to get light to moderate snowfall.

According to a tweet by the weather expert, the icy, severe chill would be experienced between January 14 and 19 and is likely to peak from January 16 to 18.