An avalanche alert has been issued for some high altitude areas in Himachal Pradesh for the next 24 hours, the Met office here said on Saturday as it predicted a wet spell in the state till Thursday.

Since Friday evening, parts of the state has witnessed light snow. Gondla and Kukumseri in the tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti received 8 cm and 4.2 cm of snow, respectively while it was 2 cm in Kinnaur's Kalpa.

The Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment, Chandigarh, on Saturday issued an "orange" alert for possibility of avalanches in high altitude areas of Chamba, Kullu, Kinnaur, and Lahaul and Spiti districts in the next 24 hours.

Snowfall since February 26 has made life tough for tribals in Chamba's Pangi valley. With the closure of roads, the villagers have been forced to carry the sick to hospital on palanquins.

It was reported that on Friday, Sham Singh, a patient from Punto village, was taken to Civil Hospital in Killar on a palanquin. Earlier, villagers from Hudan panchayat had carried two patients, Sher Singh and Hira Lal, to the hospital on their backs.

Several places in the state received intermittent rains.

Kalpa received 22.6 mm of rain, Manali (18 mm), Kotkhai (16.1 mm), Rohru (15 mm), Saloni (14.2 mm), Theog and Kufri (12 mm each), Kasauli (11 mm), Seobagh (10 mm), Bhuntar (8.6 mm), Shimla (8.2 mm), Solan (7 mm) and Chamba (6 mm).

Thunderstorms were observed in Bhuntar, Jot and Palampur, while Kufri witnessed hailstorms.

Kukumseri recorded the lowest night temperature of minus 2.6 degrees Celsius. Dhaulakuan in Sirmaur district was the hottest during the day with a high of 26.7 degree Celsius.

From March 1 to 15, Himachal Pradesh has received 60.7 mm of rainfall, compared to 57.4 mm which is normal during this period, marking an excess of 6 per cent.

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