Himachal sizzles, rains in store

The hills of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday saw the mercury rising, recording temperatures three to seven degrees above the average. But the Met office forecast rains and thundershowers later this week.

"A fresh western disturbance is likely to be active in the western Himalayas from April 19," an official of the meteorological office said.

The state continued to experience hot weather with the day temperature crossing the 41 degrees Celsius mark in some areas.

Una town was the hottest in the state with a high of 41.2 degrees Celsius.

Sundernagar in Mandi district recorded a maximum temperature of 36.2 degrees Celsius, while Dharamsala in Kangra district was 5.4 notches above average at 31.4 degrees Celsius.

Kalpa, some 250 km from here in Kinnaur district, saw the day's temperature at 23.8 degrees Celsius.

The state capital was hit at 27 degrees Celsius, 7.1 notches above average.

Popular tourist resorts like Narkanda, Kufri, Kasauli, Manali, Palampur, Chamba and Dalhousie also experienced hot weather.