Shimla, the most visited hill station of Himachal has got the first snowfall of year 2017. The entire city of Shimla has been covered with a thick white blanket of snow. Being a weekend, tourists from Punjab, Haryana and especially Chandigarh are travelling to Shimla to see this season’s first snowfall. As always, tourists thronged Shimla on 2017 New year’s eve but it did not snow at that time. It was on 7th Jan morning that Shimla woke up to heavy snowfall.
Snowfall in Shimla 2017
Year 2017 has got a whooping start for Shimla. With heavy snowfall within the first week, tourists have thronged Shimla. It’s not just Shimla that has received snowfall on 7th Jan, but all major hill stations of Himachal like Dharamshala, Manali, Narkanda etc, received heavy snowfall.
The MET department had predicted snowfall for Shimla somewhere in the mid of Jan 2017 but this snowfall has come a bit early. This snowfall at Shimla and other hill stations is a result of strong western disturbances.
Yakhu, the highest peak of Shimla received 15 centimetres of snowfall as on 7th Jan, 2017. Heavy snow was also witnessed at Kufri which is located at 16 Kilometres from Shimla. The famous tourist destination of Narkanda had received 30 centimetres of snow within 24 hours.
Power supply in various areas of Shimla was affected and even telecommunication was not in order due to this snowfall. This has happened due to the reason that a lot of trees had been uprooted which snapped the electricity lines.
Roads Blocked, Traffic Hampered
This 2017 snowfall in Shimla has been so heavy that certain roads leading to Shimla have been blocked. One such road is Shimla – Manali road and another blockage was witnessed at Shoghi near Shimla.
Over 200 tourists have been stranded at Narkanda as heavy snowfall has blocked the road. Himachal government has already put machines into use to open the road blockage but with current snowfall, it has become difficult to work in the conditions.
According to reports, The Hindustan Tibet road that goes upto Narkanda has been closed for traffic beyond Sanjauli (Upper Shimla).
If you are planning to go to Shimla, make sure you book your hotels in advance as you might not be able to book a room on the spot due to huge rush.
Also, Check Out
15 Incredible Pictures from Shimla Snowfall (Jan 2017) That Are Making Everyone Go Crazy
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