Shimla, Dec 12: A day after snowfall, cold wave conditions gripped Himachal Pradesh Wednesday with temperature in Keylong, district headquarters town of Lahaul and Spiti, dropping to minus 8.5 degrees Celsius.
The Met Office here said the chill would extend over the weekend as more snowfall was expected in the state.
"The minimum temperature dropped by one-five degrees Celsius in the state after Tuesday's snowfall and widespread rains. There are chances of heavy rainfall and snowfall Dec 13 and 14 as western disturbances (the weather systems that cause precipitation) are active over the region," a Met official told IANS.
Popular tourist resort Manali saw the season's first snowfall Tuesday, while state capital Shimla received only snowflakes but nearby tourist spots near Shimla like Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda saw good spells of snowfall.
As news of the snowfall spread, tourists started arriving in Shimla and Manali and nearby tourist destinations.
The minimum temperature in Shimla was 2.6 degrees Celsius, down from Tuesday's 3.6 degrees.
Picturesque tourist resort of Kalpa, some 250 km from here, which also received snow, recorded a low of 5.4 degrees Celsius below the freezing point, while it was 7.4 degrees Celsius in Dharamsala.
