The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Himachal Pradesh, predicting snowfall and heavy rainfall in the next 48 hours. From the late night of January 30 to the morning of February 2, Chamba, Kangra, Kinnaur, Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti, Mandi, and Shimla districts are expected to experience heavy rain or snowfall.
“During the next five or six days right from tonight, there are possibilities of rain and snow in the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh. The rain activity will start tonight. On January 31 and February 1, in the districts of Chamba, Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur, and Kullu, there are chances of moderate to heavy snowfall. We have issued an orange alert for these areas. There are chances of rain and thunderstorms with lighting activities in districts of Kangra, Bilaspur and Shimla,” Sandeep Kumar Sharma Senior Scientist of IMD said.
“After February 2, the weather activity will reduce and another western disturbance is approaching on February 3 and on February 3 and 4 there would be rain in plain areas and snowfall in higher reaches. The temperatures will remain above the normal even today but after the rain, the temperature will decrease”, Sharma said. He said that an orange alert indicating the possibility of snowfall in the higher mountains region on January 31 and February 1, and a yellow alert for thunderstorms in the other parts of the state had been issued.
“The thunderstorm alert has been issued for today for Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur, Shimla, Bilaspur, Mandi and Sirmaur. Further, for the districts of Chamba, Lahaul-Spiti, Kullu and Kinnaur orange alerts have been issued,” he added.
In the last 24 hours, the coldest temperatures in Himachal Pradesh were recorded at Kukumseri in Lahaul-Spiti district with minus 4.9 degrees Celsius, Kalpa in Kinnaur with minus 2.6 degrees Celsius, and Reckong Peo in Kinnaur with 0.6 degrees Celsius. Other places like Narkanda in Shimla district, Manali, Kufri, Bhunter in Kullu, Solan, Una, Dalhousie, Dharamshala, and Shimla also experienced varying minimum temperatures, ranging from 0.4 to 6.4 degrees Celsius.
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