By Bureau Report, Agence India Press,
Srinagar: Kashmir continued to freeze on Sunday with the minimum temperature dipping three degrees below normal to minus 4.8 degrees Celsius while Leh was biting cold at minus 17.6 degrees. The Kashmir Valley is in the grip of an intense cold wave as it is witnessing the annual forty days of harsh winter, locally called ”Chillai Kalaan”
“Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of minus 4.8 degrees Celsius on Sunday, which is three degrees below normal, while Jammu recorded a minimum of 7.5 degrees, two degrees below normal,”said an officer meteorologist at the weather office here.
A thick layer of frozen snow on the main roads and lanes in Srinagar and other towns of the Valley in the morning make movement difficult and risky for motorists and pedestrians. The strategic Srinagar-Jammu highway was open to one-way traffic and vehicles are to move from Jammu to Srinagar. No vehicle will be allowed to move in the opposite direction, a traffic official said here.
These precautions are being adopted to prevent accidents on the over 300-km long highway, which remains highly slippery in its Bannihal sector. Pahalgam and Gulmarg tourist resorts were the coldest places in Kashmir Valley as mercury hovered ten degrees below the freezing point while the minimum temperature in Ladakh region fell by six degrees.
Pahalgam in south Kashmir recorded a minimum temperature of minus 10.4 degrees Celsius while Gulmarg in north Kashmir settled at minus 10.1 degrees Celsius, a MeT department official said.
Srinagar city witnessed a slightly warmer night at minus 4.8 deg C, an increase of 0.5 degrees compared to yesterday. Leh town was the coldest place in Kashmir division as the minimum temperature fell to minus 17.6 deg C compared to yesterday’s minus 11.4 deg C.
Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir, was freezing at minus 7.8 deg C while the night temperature recorded in Kokernag town in south Kashmir was minus 4.7 deg C. Kupwara town in north Kashmir recorded the lowest temperature of minus 5.7 deg C.