Manali weather today: Holiday nightmare for tourists as snowfall results in 4-km traffic jam on Manali-Solang-Nalla route

Manali temperature, Manali weather today: Several hilly areas in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir are receiving snowfall for the past two weeks. The continuous snowfall has badly affected normal life and slowed down vehicular movement. On Monday, tourists taking the Manali-Solang-Nalla route witnessed a traffic nightmare with vehicles lining up on the stretch for as long as four kms due to thick snow on the road. This resulted in a traffic jam for hours.

News agency ANI reported trucks and private vehicles were seen standing on the route with people waiting for officials to clear the road. The traffic movement on the Manali-Keylong route in Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh was stopped earlier as well.

The traffic resumed on the route on Tuesday morning after local administration officials gave a green signal after clearing snow from the road.

The poor weather had even forced the transport department to suspended the Keylong-Kullu bus service. The bus service on the route is likely to resume later today.

Manali is Himalayan resort town in Himachal Pradesh. It received first snowfall of the season about two weeks ago. Since then, tourist footfall to the hill town has increased.

Meanwhile, intensely cold weather continued to prevail in North India with Himachal Pradesh reeling under sub-zero temperatures. Delhi remained cold with the minimum temperature settling at 8.3 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year.

According to the Meteorological Department, Keylong recorded the lowest minimum temperature at minus 14.3 degrees Celsius. While Kalpa in Kinnaur district registered a low of minus 2.9 degrees Celsius, Manali and Bhuntar in Kullu shivered at minus 3 and minus 0.8 degrees Celsius respectively.

The Met department has predicted that the national capital is likely to witness the longest cold spell in December after 1997.

Source: Financial Express