MeT forecasts snowfall on weekend
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU/SRINAGAR, Jan 3: While Jammu recorded season’s coldest night, intense cold conditions continued in Kashmir despite slight rise in temperatures and the Weatherman has forecast snowfall on the weekend.
Dense fog continued to badly affect train and air-traffic in Jammu region while movement of vehicular traffic has also been hit in the region. This has lowered the temperature during night and early morning hours in plain areas of Jammu region.
“Due to dense fog, arrival of seven flights was delayed at Jammu airport, departure of two flights was rescheduled while one was cancelled,” an official at Jammu airport said.
Jammu Railway Station is witnessing heavy rush of passengers due to late arrivals and rescheduling of departure timing of some trains. Hemkund Express was late by two hours and 30 minutes today, Shalimar Express by two hours, Begumpura four hours and 30 minutes, Amarnath Express by 2 hours, Sealdah- Kolkata by 4 hours, Malwa Express by 5 hours, Superfast- Mumbai by 4 hours, Humsafar by 4 hours and Kamkhya by 9 hours due to dense fog in northern region.
A Meteorological Department official said mainly clear weather is expected till January 6 during which the minimum temperatures across the region will plummet.
“On January 7, weather is expected to be cloudy and from January 8-10, weather is likely to be cloudy with possibility of snowfall and rain (in plains of Jammu) at many places of J&K (70% chance),” he said.
Jammu recorded season’s lowest night temperarure today as it remained 3.4 degree Celsius, which was about 4 degrees below normal. Katra town recorded minimum temperature of 5.0 deg C, Banihal town minus 1.4 deg C, Bhaderwah 0.2 deg C and Batote 0.2 deg C temperature last night.
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 4.4°C against last night’s minus 5.4°C. Today’s minimum temperature was 2.3°C below normal for the city. Srinagar has so far seen the coldest temperature this season on December 25 when mercury plummeted to minus 5.8°C.
Qazigund recorded a low of minus 5.8°C against minus 5.8°C the previous night. The temperature was 2.1°C below normal for the town.
Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 7.2°C against minus 9.6°C the previous night which was the coldest night recorded this season in the tourist resort. Today’s minimum temperature was 0.6°C below normal for the place.
Kokernag recorded a low of minus 4.1°C against minus 4.6°C the previous night. It was 0.6°C below normal for the place.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 9.2°C against minus 10.0°C the previous night. It was 2.2°C below normal for the skiing resort.
In Kupwara town, the mercury settled at minus 4.1°C against minus 5.7°C the previous night. The temperature was 2.8°C below normal for the place.
Leh and Kargil recorded a low of minus 14.0°C and minus 17.2°C respectively.
Kashmir is under the grip of Chillai-Kalan, the 40-day long harsh winter period that started on December 21 and will end on January 30. It is followed by a 20-day-long period called ‘Chillai-Khurd’ that occurs between January 30 and February 19 and a 10-day-long period ‘Chillai-Bacha’ (baby cold) which is from February 20 to March 1.
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