Shimla, March 30 : As March is drawing closer, nearby hills of the popular tourist destination of Manali received more snow on Saturday, while lower hills across Himachal Pradesh experienced rains, pushing down the mercury by several notches.

Hoteliers, however, cheered up in the hope that tourists would converge in large numbers in the next few days.

Likewise, the Solang ski slopes, 13 km uphill from Manali, and Kalpa, 250 km from the state capital, also witnessed snow.

However, tourist spot Shimla and its nearby destinations such as Kufri, Fagu, Narkanda and Chail only witnessed rains.

'As per inputs from Dhundhi, the area around South Portal, is witnessing heavy snowfall, and the road from South Portal up to Solang Nallah is not fit for any type of traffic,' said the HP Traffic, Tourist and Railways Police.

The meteorological office here said high-altitude areas of Lahaul-Spiti, Kullu, Kinnaur, Chamba, Mandi, Sirmaur and Shimla districts have been experiencing moderate to heavy snow. The minimum temperatures dropped by 4-5 degrees Celsius.

Keylong, the administrative centre of Lahaul-Spiti, was the coldest place in the state at minus 0.3 degree Celsius.

Shimla recorded a low of 6.6 degrees, Kufri minus 4.8 degrees, Kalpa 1.4 degrees, Manali 1.6 degrees and Dalhousie 4.5 degrees.

/IANS