It's sunny but freezing in Himachal

The hill stations of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday experienced sunny conditions, but temperatures were close to the freezing point at several places. And, there are no chances of snowfall till December 30, as per the Meteorological Office.

"Dry weather to prevail in the state till December 30," an official at the meteorological office told IANS.

In the state capital, a bright, sunny but bone-chilling weather dashed the hopes of revellers to celebrate Christmas amid snowfall.

Besides Shimla, other popular destinations like Kufri, Narkanda, Kasauli, Dalhousie and Manali too were totally devoid of the snow cover.

Shimla saw a low of one degree Celsius, while it was minus three degrees in tourist resort Manali.

The night temperature in Keylong, the headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti, was minus 14.7 degrees. In Kinnaur district's Kalpa the temperature fell to minus 4.3 degrees and in Dharamsala town it was 3.2 degrees.

The weather office said there were chances of snowfall in mid and high hills of the state from December 31.

"The western disturbances are approaching the region from December 31. If these remain active for a few days, snow would cover most of the tourist spots," it said.IANS