Popular tourist destinations Shimla, Manali and its nearby areas received the season's first snowfall on Saturday, while the lower hills across Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were lashed by heavy rain. However, snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir was confined to the higher reaches only.
In a span of 24 hours, Shimla recorded 62.4 mm of rain, Nahan 70 mm and Manali 53 mm. While Dehradun in Uttarakhand received 23 mm of rain.
According to Skymet Meteorology Division in India, the reason behind the rain and snow is the feeble Western Disturbance moving across Jammu and Kashmir and a cyclonic circulation over Rajasthan and adjoining areas.
In the view of the prevailing systems, light rain has been observed at several places in northern plains, while moderate to heavy rain was witnessed at isolated places in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
According to weather models, rainfall is expected to continue over northwest and west Uttar Pradesh, parts of Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and isolated parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
As a result, minimum temperatures have increased, while maximums have dropped significantly.
On Sunday morning, Manali recorded maximum temperature of 10.4°C and minimum of 0°C, while Shimla saw the maximum settle at 6.7°C and minimum at 0.4°C.
In Punjab, Chandigarh recorded day and night temperature at 15.2°C and 10.6°C respectively, while Amritsar recorded maximum of 19.2°C and minimum of 8.6°C. Delhi also saw maximum settle at 20.8°C and minimum at 14.2°C.
Minimums will drop once again as the Western Disturbance moves away, while maximums will maintain levels or rise marginally.
