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The hilly areas of Himachal Pradesh received a fresh spell of snowfall on Friday, with tourists places like Manali and Shimla Mall roads, and Ridge becoming playgrounds for eager and happy tourists.
In Himachal, the hill queen Shimla and tourist heaven Manali received heavy spells of snowfall, blocking highways and damaging some electricity infrastructures in many areas. However, tourists welcomed the snowfall, and seem to enjoy snowflakes falling from the sky to the fullest.
In Himachal, traffic going via rural Shimla has been blocked due to heavy snowfall since yesterday night. Even low-lying areas like Solan and Kasauli also received their first light spell of snowfall.
The state authorities have issued yellow alerts in many parts experiencing continuous snowfall, and most of the roads in Shimla city and upper areas of the district are closed for all kinds of vehicular traffic, Shimla Police said via a tweet.
“It is brought to the knowledge of general public that in various places of Himachal Pradesh viz Chail, Barog, Shimla, Kufri Narkanda, Mashobra and in various parts of Chopal, Rohru, Kullu, Manali, Mandi and Chamba, snowfall is being reported. Pls (please) drive cautiously," HP traffic and railway police said.
The Shimla Deputy Commissioner said via a Facebook post that tourist places like roads connecting Kurfi, Fagu, Narkanada, Khada Patthar, Chaupal Kupvi and Khidki have been blocked due to heavy snowfall.
"We have put in place adequate machines to remove snow from the road, though constant snowfall is creating hurdles," the DC office said, adding that it's continuously snowing in Shimla city, causing traffic snarls and blocking many roads. "We request people not to venture out unless it's necessary," the DC office statement said.
Many users also took to social media to share pictures and videos of snowfall.
Meanwhile, India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued rainfall and snowfall warning in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and scattered rainfall/snowfall over Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh on February 4. It had also issued an isolated hailstorm warning for Uttarakhand.
IMD's weather forecast for the next few days said Western Himalayan regions will receive rain on February February 6, 7, 8 and 9. “Under the influence of a feeble western disturbance; isolated to scattered light rainfall or snowfall very likely over Western Himalayan region on 06th & 07th February, 2022. Under the influence of another Western disturbance; scattered/fairly widespread light/moderate rainfall/snowfall very likely over Western Himalayan Region during 08th-09th February and isolated light rainfall likely over northern parts of Punjab & Haryana, Chandigarh on 08th & 09th February 2022."
