Shimla, Feb 2 (Representative) The majority of the snowline area of Himachal Pradesh and major tourist resorts, including Shimla, Manali, Dalhousie, Kufri, Narkanda, and Khajiyar, were draped under thick layers of snow, disrupting vehicular traffic and power supplies in the state.As people came out of their houses, they blossomed after finding the rooftop and tree draped in a white blanket of snowfall. It was a sunny morning on Friday, and picturesque scenes increased with the beautiful weather phenomenon. Shimla had the first snowfall of this season, and as before, tourists and locals were dismayed by the dry weather conditions. The change in the season not only relieves the locals from perched dry weather conditions, but the tourist and hospitality units, which have been secluded so far, may see a major flip in the footfall of tourists. The district administrations of Shimla, Kullu, Lahaul Spiti, Kinnaur, and Chamba are also braving the icy coldwave conditions and mounting snow on the six national highways.
Around 411 roads have been closed, and the power supply is off in 1506 places.An advisory was issued to commuters not to drive on the slippery road as, due to the cold wave, the slippery black ice is mounted on National Highways 3 and 5 between Manali to Keylong and Kufri to Narkanda.Among the major roads that are closed are Chamba-Jot, Khajjiyar-Dalhousie, Tissa-Chamba and Pangi Roads in Chamba, NH-05 Nathpa-Nichar, Sangla-Chitkul and ReckongPeo-Karcham (Via Shilti), NH-22 Khadura and Khorigompa in Kinnaur, Rohtang Pass NH-03 and Manali-Atal Tunnel, and NH-305 Jalori Jot, Darcha to Sarchu, Darcha-Shinkula and Lossar to Gramphu, SKTT from Tandi-Khadu Nallah, NH-505 (SKG Gramphu-Losar(Lahaul Spiti), NH-5 Dhali-Kufri-Fagu, Shimla-Theog, Theog-Narkanda, Khadapathar Rohru-Sungri, Chirgaon-Rohal, Deha-Chopal and Narkanda-Kotgarh in Shimla.The Indian Meteorological Department predicted mainly dry weather and shallow fog in the state during the next 24 hours.