Cold to tighten grip in Himachal with rain, snow forecast

Cold will tighten its grip in Himachal Pradesh with the meteorological bureau on Saturday predicting rain and snow in many parts of the state in the next 24 hours.

"There are chances of rainfall and snowfall at many places in the state from November 15 to 16," an official at the meteorological office here told IANS.

He said the western disturbances -- storm systems originating from Caspian Sea and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region -- are likely to be active by Saturday night.

"High-altitude areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba, Kullu, Kinnaur, Sirmaur and Shimla districts may experience light to moderate snow till November 17," a Met official said.

Widespread rains likely to lash lower areas of the state like Shimla, Kufri, Kasauli, Dharamsala, Palampur, Solan, Nahan, Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur and Mandi that bring down the temperature.

Shimla on Saturday saw a low of 8.9 degrees Celsius, while it was 1.2 degrees in Manali, 2.4 degrees in Kalpa, 8.4 degrees in Dalhousie and 10 degrees in Dharamsala.

Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest place in the state at minus 0.2 degrees Celsius. It had already experienced snowfall in this season.