Heavy showers, sleet in Shimla

Shimla:Heavy showers, accompanied by sleet, lashed Shimla and surrounding areas, while the sky remained heavily overcast in the state today.

The state capital witnessed heavy showers along with sleet and recorded a rainfall of 22 mm, followed by Gaggal and Bangana which received 15 mm each of rain, Nadaun 12 mm, Jogindernagar and Dehra Gopipur 11 mm each, Sundernagar 10 mm, Palampur 8 mm, Guler 7 mm and Dharamshala 28 mm.

The sky remained heavily overcast and people in lower areas reeled under sultry heat, the MeT said.

The monsoon is in withdrawal phase but fresh rains at some places indicated that it would take a week or so for south-west monsoons to completely withdraw from the region, it said.

The minimum temperatures rose marginally and key tourist resort of Manali was colder than tribal areas with a low of 10.6 degrees Celsius, while Keylong and Kalpa recorded minimum temperatures at 11.3 degrees Celsius and 12.4 degrees Celsius respectively, followed by Dharamshala 15.6 degrees Celsius, Shimla 15.8 degrees Celsius, Solan and Palampur 18.4 each degrees Celsius and Una 24.0 degrees Celsius.

Una was hottest in the region with maximum temperature settling at 34.0 degrees Celsius, while Bhuntar and Sundernagar recorded a high of 33.0 degrees Celsius and 31.8 degrees Celsius, followed by Nahan 28.3 degrees Celsius, Dharamshala 28.2 degrees Celsius, Solan 28.0 degrees Celsius and Shimla 22.6 degrees Celsius.

The MeT has predicted rains or thundershowers at few places in lower, mid and higher hills over the next four days.

The region has received 610.7 mm average rainfall against normal rainfall of 808.4 mm and the rain deficit from June 1 to September 21 was 24 per cent.