New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS): The national capital Delhi was on Friday colder by at least two notches than the ‘Queen of Hills’ Shimla and Dharamsala, both the preferred hill destinations in Himachal Pradesh.

Likewise, many places in the plains of north India were colder than the hilly tourist destinations, the Met Office in Shimla said.

Delhi recorded a minimum temperature at 4.9 degrees Celsius, while Shimla -- located around 7,000 feet above sea level -- saw a low of 6.8 degrees, a rise of 1.8 degrees from Thursday; Dharamsala 8.2 degrees Celsius; and Dalhousie 6.8 degrees.

Punjab’s Amritsar and Ludhiana and Haryana’s Hisar and Karnal recorded a low of 8 degrees, 11.8, 6.2 and 7.4 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, saw a low of 9.1 degrees.

An official at Shimla's Meteorological Office told IANS that Shimla and Dharamsala saw high night temperatures compared to the plains.

“This is a natural phenomenon and occurs mainly due to settling of the inversion layer on mountain tops,” he said.

Generally, the air becomes cooler as elevation increases. The day temperature in most of the plains is abnormally high compared to Shimla. The warm air lifted from the plains overlaid the existing cold air in the mountains.

He said since Shimla and Dharamsala were near the plains, the impact of the inversion layer was more there.

At 3.5 degrees below the freezing point, Sumdoh in Lahaul-Spiti district was the coldest in Himachal Pradesh.

The weather in Himachal's popular destinations like Kasauli, Chail, Kufri, Narkanda and Palampur is expected to be sunny.

“What pleasant days in Shimla,” Nikita Gaur, a tourist from Delhi, remarked. “We are enjoying long sunny days and balmy nights.”

The weatherman said dry weather would continue in the hills till the western disturbances -- storm systems originating from the Caspian Sea and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region -- are active in the region.