Manali hit by fresh spell of snowfall, tourists face massive traffic jams

Manali was hit by a fresh spell of snowfall that created a lot of problems for tourists. Locals and tourists in Himachal Pradesh were stuck in a long 4 km traffic jam on Monday morning after the region was hit by heavy snow. This resulted in a massive traffic jam on the Manali-Solang-Nalla route.
Vehicular movement came to an acute halt on the Manali-Keylong road after the snowfall. The route to hill stations such as Kullu and Manali in Lahaul-Spiti district resumed on Tuesday morning as per reports.

Reports also say that the state transport corporation will resume the bus service between Keylong-Kullu. About two weeks back, Manali received the first snowfall of the season. This boosted tourism in the valley. Hills in Himachal such as Gulaba, Solang and Kothi received moderate snow while Kalpa in Kinnaur and Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti also experienced snowfall.
As per the Meteorological Department, the maximum temperature recorded in Manali was 10.8 degrees Celsius; Kalpa recorded minus 2.9 degrees Celsius. Bhuntar in Kullu too is shivering at minus 0.8 degrees Celsius.

Keeping in mind the extreme cold and foggy conditions, a number of educational institutes have changed school timings for children. All the government and private run schools in Punjab's Education Department have changed the timings with effect from Tuesday.

"The timings of the primary schools would be from 10 AM to 3 PM while those of the Middle/High/Senior Secondary schools would be from 10 AM to 4 PM. Timings of schools having double shifts have not been changed," an official statement read.