Moderate to heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh

Shimla, Aug 20 (PTI) Several parts of Himachal Pradeshreceived moderate to heavy rains today as monsoon remainedactive in the state with maximum temperatures dropping by afew notches. Sarkaghat in Mandi district and Bhoranj in Hamirpurdistrict received 75 mm and 74 mm rains respectively whileNaina Devi recorded 50 mm of rain, followed by Hamirpur 46mmSujanpur Tira 46 mm, Una 28 mm, Bangana and Baijnath 25 mmeach. Sundernagar received 21 mm of rainfall; Palampur 17 mm,Dharamshala16 mm; Jogindernagar 15 mm; Shimla and Nadaun 12 mmeach; Nahan and Gaggal 13 mm each; Jhandutta 10 mm, Mandi and Amb 9 mm each and Mehre 8 mm. The maximum temperatures dropped to 29.7 degrees Celsiusin Una against 34.5 degrees Celsius yesterday following heavyrains while Dharamsala and Nahan recorded a high of 28.4degrees Celsius and 26.9 degrees Celsius respectively. Shimla witnessed the maximum temperatures of 21.0 degreesCelsius while in Manali it stood at 20.0 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperatures also dropped marginally in tribaland hilly areas. Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was thecoldest in the region with a low of 11.2 degrees Celsius. The MeT has predicted rains or thundershowers at isolatedplaces in lower, mid and higher hills over next six days. The current monsoon rain deficit remained stationary at 18per cent as the region received an average rainfall of 507.7mm rains against normal rainfall of 606 mm from June 1 toAugust 20. PTI PCL AQS ZMNAQS