All roads led to the snow clad hills of Himachal Pradesh on Saturday as tourists made a beeline to enjoy the seasons heaviest fall.
Normal life was, however, thrown out of gear as the snowfall led to disruption of power and water supply in several parts of the State, including Shimla and its adjoining areas. Communication and traffic movement too was hampered due to snow and falling of trees.
The snowfall, while dispelled all the worries of tourism industry, has also brought cheers to the apple growers as it is considered beneficial for apple crop at this point of time. Heavy rush of tourists was witnessed in Shimla, Kullu-Manali, Dalhousie and even Kasauli as tourists thronged from far off areas, including Delhi and its adjoining areas to the hill stations for playing with the flakes.
The rain and snowfall that started on Friday evening continued on Saturday, bringing the mercury below zero degree at places like Shimla and Manali. Both the hill stations recorded lowest temperatures of -0.2 and -0.8 on Friday night.
While the Meteorology Department has predicted more snow at scattered places in the State in the coming 24 hours, the nights in the coming week are expected to be more cooler as the mercury may dip further.
Manmohan Singh, Met Director, Himachal Pradesh, said the weather will clear by Monday and it will remain clear till Jan 13. While the administrative authorities have issued health advisories in Shimla and other stations, there are avalanche warnings also in tribal and higher reaches of the state.
The heavy snowfall in Shimla, blocked the traffic beyond Shoghi as this satellite town also witnessed heavy snowfall on Friday night. large number of travellers was seen stuck on the roads as the thick layer of snow brought the traffic movement to a halt. The inclement weather also resulted in disruption of power supply. While Shimla witnessed power failure for more than 10 hours, Shoghi remained powerless for the entire night on Friday.
The snowfall hindered the supply of essential commodities like Milk and vegetables to the hill stations, as the roads got blocked at various places due to snow and uprooted trees.
While Shimla received 40 cms of snow till Friday noon, besides Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda recorded more snow upto 45-55 cm. The tourist destination Manali, which recorded first snowfall of the season, recorded 30 cm of snow on Saturday.
The hills of Himachal also recorded heavy rains with hailstorms at scattered places in the last 24 hours.
While the state recorded healthy snowfall in the last 24. Banjar received maximum showers recording 73 mm rains, while Shimla received 20 mm before snowfall. Other than these, Dharamshala 44 mm, Mandi 38mm, Nahan 35mm, Una 34, Poanta Sahib and Solan 38 mm received good amount of rain during last 24 hours.
Churdhar ranges in Sirmaur and surrounding areas of Nauradhar, Haripurdhar and upper Shallai are also got heavy snowfall. While 90 cm of snow was recorded at Chaurdhar recorded 90 cm snow, it was recorded 45 cm in Haripurdhar. The sprawling Dhauladhar ranges in Kangra district have also experienced intermittent heavy snowfall with heavy rains in the lower ranges.