Snow blankets Manali, Kufri, Dalhousie

Tourist resorts of Kufri, Manali, Dalhousie and Kalpa in Himachal Pradesh received moderate snowfall turning them more picturesque on Saturday.

Snow though continued to elude the Himachal Pradesh capital, as the weather office predicted a dry spell after Sunday with the western disturbances likely receding from the region.

"Manali and the hills overlooking it experienced mild to moderate snow since early Friday," Manmohan Singh, Director of the Meteorological office, told IANS.

He said picturesque Kalpa, some 250 km from here and Dalhousie experienced 7 cm and 24 cm of snow, respectively.

Kufri, just 13 km uphill from here, had 7 cm of snow and saw a low of minus 1.5 degrees Celsius.

High-altitude areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba, Mandi, Kullu, Kinnaur and Shimla districts have been experiencing snow.

Tourists have started arriving in Manali and nearby hills of Shimla.

Shimla, which saw 10.9 mm rain in the past 24 hours since Friday, recorded a minimum temperature of 2.9 degrees Celsius, while it was 3.6 degrees in Dharamsala that got 21.4 mm of rain.

Keylong in Lahaiul-Spiti district was the coldest in the state with a low of minus 12.8 degrees Celsius. It received 9 cm of snow.-IANS