Srinagar, Dec 24: Barring famous resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam, the minimum temperature settled at above freezing point in Kashmir on Friday amid a persistent cloud cover.
Quoting a meteorological department official, news agency GNS reported that Srinagar recorded a low of 2.4 against last night’s 2.6°C and had rainfall of 1.3mm in last 24 hours till 0830 hours today.
Kashmir is presently under the grip of 40-day long harshest period of winter, known locally as ‘Chillai Kalan, which started from December 21. It is followed by a 20-day long ‘Chillai Khurd’ and a 10-day-long ‘Chilla Bachha’.
The mercury in the world famous resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district settled at minus 5.1°C against minus 3.7°C on the previous night, the official said. It was 0.7°C above normal for the famous resort which recorded 3.3cms of fresh snowfall.
Qazigund, the gateway town of Kashmir, had a low of 1.2°C against 0.8°C on the previous night, he said.
Pahalgam, the famous resort in south Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 1.3°C against 0.3°C on previous night and had snowfall of 0.4 cm.
Kokernag, also in south Kashmir, recorded a low of 1.2°C against 0.7°C on previous night, the official said. It had rainfall of 5.2mm during the time, the official added.
Kupwara town in north Kashmir recorded a minimum of 2.2°C against 2.6°C on the previous night while as it had 0.3mm of rain, the official said.
Jammu, the J&K’s winter capital, saw a low of 8.2°C which is normal for the place during this time of the year, he said.
Ladakh’s Leh had a low of 0.5°C against last night’s minus 6.6°C while automatic Kargil station recorded minimum of minus 6.4°C. Drass in Kargil, the second coldest place in the world after Siberia, recorded a low of minus 13.4°C, the official said.
Light to moderate snowfall over higher reaches occured at a few places of Kashmir and Sonmarg-Drass axis.
There’s no forest of any major snow/rainfall till 26 December as per the MeT official who said a Western Disturbance of greater intensity is likely during 26-28 December due to which light to moderate snowfall in plains of Kashmir is expected.