Shimla, Jan 4 (IANS): The hills of Himachal Pradesh Friday saw a marginal rise in temperatures owning to long sunny days, but large parts reeled under the biting cold with the minimum temperature staying below freezing point.

Keylong, headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti, being the coldest at a low of minus 7.4 degrees Celsius, up from Thursday's minus 9.9 degrees.

Most of the prominent tourist towns such as Shimla, Kasauli, Narkanda, Kufri, Manali, Dharamsala, Palampur and Dalhousie have been witnessing long sunny days, a meteorological official told IANS.

State capital Shimla experienced the minimum temperature at 2 degrees Celsius, a marginal rise from Thursday's 1.2 degrees.

Kalpa in Kinnaur saw a minimum temperature of minus 2.5 degrees Celsius, while it was 0.4 degrees below freezing point in Manali and 5.2 degrees in Dharamsala.

These towns Thursday saw a low of minus 4.6 degrees Celsius, minus 3 degrees and 4.4 degrees respectively.

The entire tribal belt in Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti, Kullu and Chamba districts have been experiencing extremely cold conditions with mercury staying between minus 10 and 15 degrees Celsius.

The Met office has predicted mainly dry weather till Sunday.