Shimla, Jan 1- The Himachal state capital once again witnessed dry weather on the last day of the year. The lack of snow disappointed thousands of tourists who came here in the hope of playing in the snow.

"Like the previous years, this time too there was no snow to cheer the locals and the tourists. The city witnessed a long sunny day Thursday," Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office, told IANS.

He said that the city experienced snowfall on the last day of the year in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2002.

"This was the seventh consecutive year when the snow failed to keep a date with the city. The entire hill state remained mainly dry Thursday," he said.

The heaviest snowfall recorded in the city was 105 cm Dec 31, 1990, he said.

According to the state tourism department, over 50,000 tourists, mainly from Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, reached Shimla and nearby tourist spots on New Year's Eve.

Monica Sharma, a tourist from Delhi, said: "We have specially come here to witness snow, but the entire hills were totally devoid of the white blanket. The only saving grace this time was that we enjoyed ice skating at Shimla's skating rink."

The 90-year-old skating rink has been holding regular skating sessions for the past few days due to the natural formation of a thick coating of ice.

Interestingly, the entire hill state experienced the coldest December in over 15 years with the minimum temperature hovering two to three degrees Celsius below average.

"The previous month was the coldest in the state in more than 15 years. It was due to the absence of the western disturbances," Singh said.

He said that due to the absence of western disturbances, nights were clear and that led to the emission of long wave radiations from the earth.

"The emissions of long wave radiations were more during nights due to which the night temperatures were 2-3 degrees Celsius below average during the last month. Similarly, days were sunny and short wave radiations from the sun were more because of which the days were comparatively warm," Singh explained.

The average minimum temperature in Shimla for the month of December was 3.5 degrees Celsius.

The minimum in Dharamsala in Kangra district was 3.3 degrees Celsius below average, followed by Sundernagar in Mandi district (1.6 degrees) and Bhuntar in Kullu district (0.8 degrees). (IANS)