The intense cold wave sweeping the hills and valleys of Himachal Pradesh further tightened its grip as minimum temperatures dropped by few notches to stay below freezing point in the hilly state.
Dense fog engulfed the towns on the banks of major rivers in the morning, affecting vehicular traffic but it dissipated as the day advanced.
The key tourist resort of Manali shivered at minus 3 deg C while Solan and Sundernagar recorded a low of minus 1.8 deg and Bhuntar recorded minimum temperature at minus 1.9 deg, 2 deg below normal.
The state capital Shimla recorded a low of 2.1 deg while Una and Nahan recorded minimum temperature at 1.8 deg and 3.1 deg, 4 deg below normal.
The night temperature stayed at 7 deg at Palampur, followed by Dharamsala 4.6 deg and Mandi 5 deg C.
Keylong and Kalpa in twin tribal districts of Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur recorded minus 8.9 deg and minus 3.5 deg while the high altitude tribal areas and high mountain passes groaned under biting cold wave conditions with mercury staying between minus 12 and minus 20 deg C.
However, the day temperatures which had plummeted at many places yesterday increased by few notches as sun shone over large tracts of land and Sundernagar and Solan recorded a high of 18.4 deg and 18 deg respectively followed by Dharamsala 17.4 deg, Nahan 15.6 deg, Shimla 12.9 deg, Una 11.6 deg and Kalpa 10.4 deg C.
The local MeT office has predicted dry weather during next 3 days with marginal fall in mecury at some places.
—————————–PTI