Tourists and residents bore the brunt of high temperatures during the day as heat wave conditions continued to prevail in many parts of the State.
At mid-day, most of the people were either indoors or had taken cover in shade. Women who had to venture out for the day had umbrellas to protect them from direct sunlight in the State capital. The Met station recorded the day’s high temperature in the city at 31.4 degrees Celsius, marking it the highest temperature for the summer thus far.
Compelled by the high temperatures, most eateries and restaurants have installed air conditioners to keep the indoor environment comfortable for tourists. “It used to be natural cool air that tourists travelled to the hills for, some year ago,” says Raman Khanna, a former manager of a high end hotel. “Now the managements have to install air conditioning for the comforts of their guests if they are to stay in business.”
The heat conditions have even triggered forest fires in many places and impact on drinking water sources was also felt. At places, shortages in drinking water supply have also been reported.The hot weather was taking a toll in other tourist places as well. In Kullu the day’s high point was recorded at 37.2 and at Dharamshala it was 35.2 degrees Celsius.
Heat wave conditions continued to prevail at Mandi where the day’s high recorded was 40.4 degrees Celsius, in Hamirpur it was 41.6, in Bilaspur 42.1 and the highest temperature in the state was recorded at 44 degrees Celsius in Una. Even in Nahan, in the southern part of the state the temperature recorded was 39.8 degrees Celsius. The weatherman forecast that though a feeble western disturbance as an upper cyclonic circulation was prevailing over Jammu & Kashmir and the neighbourhood but the weather was expected to remain mainly dry for the next two to three days. For the tourist city here, a week long forecast projects that the heat wave would intensify with the temperatures expected to cross the 32 degrees Celsius mark by Friday.