Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Dec 14: Kashmir valley is in the grip of intense cold wave conditions with Srinagar freezing at minus 3.7 degrees Celsius that led to the freezing of parts of Srinagar’s Dal lake and other water bodies.
Director of the Meteorological Department at Srinagar, Sonam Lotus, said that Srinagar last night recorded minus 3.7 degrees Celsius, Season’s lowest night temperatures so far.
“The minimum temperature at Leh was recorded at minus 14.2 degree Celsius, Pahalgam minus 6.6 degrees Celsius and Gulmarg minus 2.4 degrees Celsius,” Lotus said.
The Weatherman said that cold wave condition will become more severe during the next one week as the weather is likely to remain dry across the State. “There could be some light snowfall/rainfall activity in higher reaches, but this wouldn’t be of much significance so far as the overall weather conditions are concerned,” he added.
As the night temperatures dropped in Srinagar and other places, parts of Dal lake and other water bodies were frozen in the morning. Majority of the people preferred to remain indoors as the outdoors were covered with a thick layer of frost and chilly winds were blowing across.
The temperatures across the region remained lowest of the season. Leh recorded minus 14.2 degrees Celsius today a drop of over one degree in the minimum temperature from the previous night’s season’s lowest of minus 13 degrees Celsius.
The night temperature in the nearby Kargil town also decreased slightly to register a low of minus 10.8 degrees Celsius as against the previous night’s minus 10.4 degrees C.
The minimum temperature in the tourist resort of Pahalgam settled at minus 6.6 degrees Celsius as against the previous night’s minus 7.2 degrees Celsius.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 2.4 degrees Celsius, an increase of three degrees from the previous night’s minus 5.4 degrees Celsius.
Qazigund in South Kashmir recorded a minimum of minus 4.8 degrees Celsius as compared to minus 4.3 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Kupwara town in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 4.3 degrees Celsius as against minus 5.1 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Kokernag in South Kashmir recorded a low of minus 3.6 degrees Celsius against the previous night’s minus 3.8 degrees Celsius.
As the temperatures plummet, the electricity plays hide and seek making lives of the people miserable in the intense cold wave conditions.
As per the Power Development Department (PDD) schedule, consumers across Kashmir in non-metered areas are facing 59 hours scheduled weekly cuts while those in metered areas face 17 hours cut. But besides these scheduled power cuts, PDD is resorting to massive distress cuts across Kashmir valley irking the consumers.
Follow our WhatsApp channel