Shimla, the jewel in Himachal Pradesh’s crown, awoke to an unforgiving frost on January 1, 2026, as the cold wave intensified, plunging temperatures to a merciless -4.2 degrees Celsius at dawn and raising the specter of snowfall across the snow-capped ridges. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) escalated to a red alert for severe cold and heavy snow in higher reaches, projecting daytime highs barely touching 1 degree Celsius with 85 percent overcast skies and fierce northeasterly gales at 12 km/h.