Shimla, Dec 22

Popular tourist resorts Shimla, Manali and their surroundings received season's first snowfall Sunday, while the lower hills across Himachal Pradesh were lashed by rains, pushing down the mercury by several notches, the weather office here said.

Hoteliers cheered up in the hope that winter tourists will converge in large numbers ahead of Christmas.

Tourist spots near Shimla, such as honeymooners' paradise Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda, also experienced moderate snowfall, making the hill stations more picturesque.

The Solang ski slopes, 13 km uphill from Manali, and Kalpa, 250 km from the state capital, also received snowfall, the weather office here said.

The minimum temperature in Manali was 1.2 degrees below the freezing point. The town received 18 cm of snow.

Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest place in the state at minus 4 degrees Celsius.

It was 7.2 degrees above the freezing point in Dharamsala, minus 3 degrees in Kalpa, and 0.2 degree in Shimla.

The state capital recorded 6 cm of snow, while Salooni in Chamba district got 19 cm of snow.

By:IANS