Fresh snowfall at Gulmarg, Natha Top; rain in J&K
Gopal Sharma/ Fayaz Bukhari
JAMMU/ SRINAGAR, Jan 11: Entire Jammu and Kashmir experienced rain and snowfall, mostly on the higher reaches while severe cold and dense fog has thrown normal life out of gear in the region.
The hills of Kashmir including Gulmarg received fresh snowfall today while Valley was lashed by rains with minimum temperature settling above freezing point at most of the places in the region. It has been snowing on the hills of Kashmir and parts of Jammu since last night.
Four flights were cancelled and at least half a dozen delayed due to fog and poor visibility at Jammu airport today. However, with the improvement in the weather condition after 1 pm, rest of the flights operated normally, Director AAI, SK Garg said.
The helicopter service at Katra Mata Vaishnodevi was suspended in the afternoon due to rain and bad weather, but the pilgrimage continued smoothly.
At least 13 trains arrived late by one to six hours at Jammu station while the timings of two trains were re-scheduled as the train services continued to hit badly due to dense fog in the northern region. The operation of scores of trains in J&K, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi NCR, UP and Rajasthan has been affected for the last few weeks due to continuous fog and poor visibility, a Northern Railways spokesman said.
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The spokesman further said that Malwa Express operating between Ambedkar Nagar near Indore (MP) and Katra Mata Vaishnodevi arrived 6 hours late, Begumpura Express six hours late from its scheduled time, Tata Sambalpur -JAT late by 5 hours, Delhi-Jammu Rajdhani Exp by 5 hours, Sealdah Exp by 3 hours 20 minutes, Lohit Express late by 4-20 hrs, Happa Express by 3 hours, Subedarganj-Udh Exp by 3 hours, Archna Express by 3 hours, Jhelum Express by 2-10 hours late, Pooja Express 2-20 hrs and Shalimar Express late by one hour and 30 minutes.
The timings of Begumpura Express and Katra Mata Vaishnodevi -Kanyakumari Exp were rescheduled and the trains left about 2 and 6 hours late, respectively, from their scheduled time today. With this, huge rush of passengers was witnessed at Jammu station for hours together.
The inter-state bus service and normal vehicular traffic have also been badly hit with the fog and bad weather.
Meanwhile, entire Jammu region has been in the grip of cold wave. The region has been experiencing light rain since morning, while light snowfall has been witnessed at Natha Top/ Patnitop, Pir Panjal and Seoj Dhar mountains, in district Doda, Ramban, Kishtwar, Reasi, Poonch and Rajouri. Pir Gali on Mughal Road and upper reaches of Sawjian and Loran in Poonch have also experienced fresh snowfall.
A MeT spokesman said that Jammu recorded a minimum temperature of 8.0 degree Celsius and maximum 12.5 deg C, holy township of Katra a minimum temperature of 10.1 degree C and maximum 14.0 deg C, Bhaderwah town a minimum temp of 6.6 deg C, Batote 6.5 deg C while Banihal town a minimum temperature of 4.9 degree C today.
Reports from Srinagar said that the hills of Kashmir including Gulmarg and other places received fresh snowfall since last night with Gulmarg recording 1.5 feet snowfall, Kangdorie over 2 feet, Tangmarg 6 inches, Babareshi 7 inches, Kunzar 3 inches, Gurez 1.5 feet, Razdhan Top over 2 feet, Z Gali over 2 feet, Machil Plan 1.5 feet, Furkia Top 1.5 feet and Sadna Top over 2 feet.
In South Kashmir, there was light snowfall of 2-3 inches in the hills including Pahalgam, Aharbal and other places.
The Kashmir valley received light rains throughout the day. However, it was snowing in the plains of Kupwara district this evening.
Meanwhile, Srinagar recorded a low of 3.5°C against last night’s 1.8°C. Today’s minimum temperature was 5.6°C above normal for city.
Qazigund recorded a low of 1.6°C against minus 0.8°C. Today’s minimum temperature was 4.6°C above normal for the place.
Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 0.3°C against minus 3.2°C on the previous night. Today’s minimum temperature was 6.8°C above normal for the place. The coldest night recorded this season in the tourist resort was on January 2 when mercury plunged to minus 9.6°C.
Kokernag recorded a low of 0.7°C against minus 3.6°C the previous night. It was 4.3°C above normal for the place.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 3.0°C against minus 4.4°C the previous night. It was 4.9°C above normal for the skiing resort that saw its coldest night this season on January 2 when minimum temperature plummeted to minus 10.0°C.
In Kupwara town, the mercury settled at 1.5°C against 2.9°C the previous night. The temperature was 4.4°C above normal.
Leh and Kargil recorded a low of minus 7.2°C and minus 7.4°C, respectively.
“From January 11-13, widespread moderate snowfall/(rain in plains of Jammu) with heavy snowfall over higher reaches with main activity is expected during 11th evening-12th (75% chance),” a Meteorological department official said adding, “The weather is very likely to affect surface transportation (major Highways, Sinthan Top, Sadna Top, Gurez-Bandipora etc during 11-12th & Air transportation on 12th (60-70% chance).
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