Shimla, Jul 3 (IANS): The hills of Himachal Pradesh Tuesday were warm due to the continuing dry spell, with the state's Una town recording a high of 40.2 degrees Celsius, a Met official said here.

But the state will soon get relief from the scorching heat as the Met office forecast rains and thundershowers across the state due to active western disturbances.

Shimla, which remained cloudy throughout the day, recorded a high of 26.4 degrees Celsius, 4.3 degrees above the average for this time of the year, an official of the meteorological office told IANS.

Likewise, Sundernagar in Mandi district recorded a maximum temperature of 35.6 degrees Celsius while Dharamsala in Kangra district was 7.2 notches above average at 35.8 degrees Celsius.

Kalpa, some 250 km from Shimla, was warm at 27 degrees Celsius, four notches above average.

The met department said there could be light to moderate rain or thundershowers in popular tourist resorts like Shimla, Narkanda, Kufri, Kasauli, Manali, Palampur, Chamba and Dalhousie.

"Heavy rainfall is likely to occur at isolated places in Mandi and Kangra districts during the next 24 hours," said the official.

The Met department said the arrival of the southwest monsoon in the state is delayed by over a week.

The monsoon normally hits the state by June 27.