Jammu, Sgr record coldest night of season
Gopal Sharma/
Fayaz Bukhari
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Jan 7: The winter capital Jammu recorded the coldest night of the season as the minimum temperature dropped four notches below normal to settle at 3.4 degrees Celsius, while summer capital Srinagar also experienced season’s lowest temperature -5.6 degrees C, an official of the Meteorological department said.
Fog disrupted normal flight and train schedules, causing inconvenience to many passengers. At least a dozen flights and eight trains were affected due to thick fog in the region today.
A MeT official said that Banihal town along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was the coldest place in Jammu region with a low of -2.2 degrees Celsius temperature, followed by Bhaderwah in Doda district, which recorded a minimum of minus 0.2 degrees Celsius.
Jammu again remained colder than Srinagar, Banihal and Bhaderwah during the day, as it recorded a maximum temperature of 10.6 degrees C while in Srinagar the day temperature was 11.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday.
Holy township of Katra, in district Reasi which serves as the base camp for the pilgrims visiting Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, recorded a night temperature of 6 degrees Celsius; Bhaderwah town a maximum temperature of 15.1 degrees C, Banihal town the day temperature of 17.0 degrees while Batote a maximum temperature of 15.8 deg C, the official said.
Meanwhile, Srinagar city recorded the coldest night of this season, and the bone-chilling cold wave conditions continued in Kashmir with the mercury plunging more than five notches below the freezing point, the official said.
A thin layer of ice formed on the surface of the Dal lake in Srinagar and other water bodies in Kashmir due to the intense cold wave that is gripping the region. People who live in houseboats at the Dal lake had a tough time breaking the layer of ice over the water body to reach its banks. Water in pipes had also frozen in several parts of the Kashmir valley.
Kashmir is currently under the grip of “Chilla-i-Kalan”, a 40-day harsh winter period, when a cold wave sweeps the region and temperatures drop considerably, leading to the freezing of water bodies as well as water in pipes.
The chances of snowfall are the highest during this period and most areas, particularly the higher reaches, receive heavy snowfall.
The Srinagar city recorded a minimum temperature of minus 5.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday night, down from minus 5.4 degrees Celsius the previous night, the official said.
Qazigund recorded a low of minus 5.0 degrees Celsius, while in the ski- resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir it was minus 4.4 degrees Celsius on Saturday night, a notch down from the previous night.
Pahalgam in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, which serves as one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath Yatra, recorded a minimum temperature of minus 6.5 degrees Celsius, down from the previous night’s minus 6.3 degrees Celsius, they said.
The minimum temperature in Kokernag town settled at minus 2.7 degrees Celsius and in Kupwara at minus 5.3 degrees Celsius.
Qazigund, Pahalgam, Kupwara, Kokernag and Gulmarg settled at maximum of 13.2°C, 10.5°C, 11.7°C, 10.6°C and 6.2°C, respectively which was 7.2°C, 6.6°C, 5.6°C, 6.2°C and 5.7°C above normal, respectively for these places for this time of the year.
There has been no snowfall in most plain areas of Kashmir, while the upper reaches of the Valley have received lesser than usual amount of snow. The Meteorological department has forecast mainly dry weather till January 12.
Meanwhile, chilling cold conditions sweep entire Jammu region and other parts of the Northern States. The thick blanket of fog continued to badly hit vehicular, train and air services in the region.
An official at Jammu Airport said that one IndiGo flight was cancelled due to fog and poor visibility while 11 other flights including five IndiGo and three Air India, three Spicejet and one Vistara Airlines arrived late at Jammu Airport from their scheduled time in view of dense fog and bad weather during morning. However, out of the 14 scheduled flights, 13 operated today from Jammu Airport, the official said.
A Northern Railways spokesman said that eight trains were delayed today and arrived late at Jammu station from one hour to 9 hours. Puja Express arrived 9 hours late at Jammu Station, Archna Express 4 hours late; Jhelum Exp, Superfast and Sealdah Express by two hours while Utter Sampark Kranti and Tata Muri trains arrived one hour late at Jammu Station on Sunday.
He further said that departure of Puja Express was delayed by 5.30 hrs at Jammu station while rest of the trains left Jammu Station at their scheduled time.
The vehicular traffic is also badly affected with the fog during the night and morning hours in the region. Many inter-state buses are also arriving several hours late from major cities of northern India to Katra and Jammu stations.
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