Shimla, Dec 30 (IANS): Himachal Pradesh saw a sunny Sunday morning but temperatures remained below the freezing point in many places. The Met Office here said such conditions would continue till Tuesday.

"It was a bright sunny day almost across the state and such conditions would continue till Tuesday," an official of the meteorological department here told IANS.

He said the higher reaches in the state were freezing with Keylong, district headquarters town of Lahaul and Spiti, being the coldest at a minimum temperature of minus 7.6 degrees Celsius.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district saw a low of minus 3.8 degrees while the temperature was 1.6 degrees below freezing in Manali.

The state capital Shimla, which saw the season's first snowfall Dec 14, saw a low of 2.3 degrees Celsius.

Shimla's meteorological department director Manmohan Singh said popular tourist destinations like Shimla, Kasauli, Narkanda, Dharamsala, Palampur, Manali, Chamba and Dalhousie have been experiencing sunny days for the past over 10 days.

The popular tourist resort town of Narkanda, some 65 km from here, has good accumulation of snow, while Shimla, known for the imperial grandeur of buildings that were once institutions of power when it was the summer capital of British India, is totally bereft of snow.

Gulaba, 20 km from Manali, is under a thick blanket of snow. "Every day, hundreds of tourists are coming here to enjoy skiing, snow scooter rides and photography sessions against icicles," said Balbir Thakur, district tourism officer.

Manali experienced a moderate spell of snow Dec 16, but it melted within a few days.