Tag: snowfall on rohtang manali

High and mid hills of Himachal seem to have entered the chilling winter season after hills up to 12,000 feet including Rohtang pass and Kunzum pass experiencing moderate snowfall since last 48 hours. Announcing the arrival of winters, Rohtang pass near Manali witnessed first snowfall of the season.  The pass received 15cm fresh snow while Kunzum pass on Manali-Spiti highway witnessed 25cm fresh snow. Hills above 15,000 feet have received more than 30cm fresh snow while the snowfall is still continuing on Western Himalaya regions in Himachal. Temperature on high hills has plunged below the freezing point while a fall of 2 to 3 degrees Celsius was recorded in the maximum and minimum temperature of the state. Kalpa in Kinnaur recorded the minimum temperature of 9.4 degrees Celsius. Manali, Keylong, Shimla and Dharamshala recorded minimum temperature at 10, 11, 14.6 and 18 degrees Celsius respectively. Snow has descended very close to the inhabited villages in Lahaul valley. The Manali-Leh highway remained blocked for several hours after fresh snow made traffic movement difficult over the Rohtang pass. Surprisingly, residents in the whole valley, who are concerned about the thousands of tonnes of seed potatoes which are ready to take out of the valley, are resorting to fire to escape the biting cold. Their fire places are spewing smoke a month earlier than the usual. Ramesh Tughi, a resident of Lapshak village, told Discover Kullu Manali over the phone that temperature is close to freezing point and cold winds are forcing residents to stay indoors. “All the peaks around our valley are experiencing heavy snowfall since Sunday night. We are feeling like spending the winters of December month,” he said. Another resident of Kalpa in Kinnaur, Balbir Negi, said cold has swept entire region with temperature plunging drastically in last 24 hours. “We