Shimla, Feb 18 (IANS) The hills of Himachal Pradesh Friday saw a marginal rise in temperatures due to a long sunny day, bringing much relief from the biting cold.

‘The entire state saw a rise in temperatures by a few notches after five days of continuous rain and snowfall,’ Meteorological Office director Manmohan Singh told IANS.

He said the western disturbances – storm systems originating from Caspian Sea and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region – have almost withdrawn from the region but would reappear in the region Sunday.

Most of the prominent tourist towns located in mid-hills like Shimla, Narkanda, Kufri, Manali and Dalhousie had witnessed moderate snowfall.

Keylong, the headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti district, was the coldest in the state Friday with a minimum temperature of minus 13.1 degrees Celsius.

Kalpa, a picturesque town 250 km from Shimla, saw a temperature of minus 5 degrees Celsius, while the maximum was 4.4 degrees.

Shimla recorded a low of 1.5 degrees Celsius whereas the maximum was quite pleasant at 12.4 degrees, a rise of 4.2 degrees from Thursday.

Bhuntar and Dharamsala towns recorded night temperatures at 1 degree and 4.1 degrees Celsius, respectively. These towns recorded the day temperature at 17 degrees and 16.6 degrees Celsius, respectively, against Thursday’s 13 degrees and 15.2 degrees Celsius.