Chandigarh, Amritsar colder than Shimla

 Chandigarh and Amritsar were colder in the day on Wednesday than Shimla. Likewise, many places in the plains of north India such as Ludhiana, Patiala and Ambala were colder than hilly tourist destinations of Shimla and Palampur in Himachal Pradesh, the Met office here said.

Chandigarh, located in the Shivalik foothills, recorded a maximum temperature of 11 degrees Celsius, 10 degrees below the average, while Shimla, located at around 7,000 feet above sea level, saw a high of 14.9 degrees Celsius, a rise of 2.5 degrees from Tuesday's maximum temperature, while Palampur recorded a maximum of 14 degrees Celsius.

Amritsar and Ludhiana in Punjab and Ambala in Haryana recorded maximum day temperatures of 11.5 degrees Celsius, 14.2 degrees Celsius and 13.8 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Hill stations across Himachal Pradesh have been experiencing long hours of sunny weather for the past three days and the maximum temperatures in most places have risen by three-four degrees above the season's average.

The minimum temperature in Shimla was 4 degrees Celsius, while it was 8.3 degrees in Chandigarh, two degrees above average.

Manmohan Singh, Director at the Met office in Shimla, told IANS that many towns in Himachal Pradesh like Shimla and Palampur saw high day temperature compared to the plains due to the prevailing sunny weather.

"This is a normal phenomenon and occurs mainly due to shallow fog in the plains," he said.

However, the picturesque tourist resort of Manali was in the grip of bone-chilling minus 2.8 degrees Celsius.

At 13.8 degrees below the freezing point, Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti district was the coldest place in Himachal Pradesh.

The weather conditions in Himachal's popular destinations like Kasauli, Chail, Kufri, Narkanda and Palampur are expected to be sunny on Thursday. After that, there is possibility of rain and snow.

The weatherman said this trend would continue in the hills till the western disturbances -- storm systems originating from the Caspian Sea and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region -- become active in the region from Friday.IANS