Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Jan 5: As the cold wave continued to grip entire northern region, Jammu’s day temperature has gone about 9 degrees below normal, showing sharp fall in temperature in last three days while the foggy weather conditions disrupted air and train traffic in the region today.
Since January 2, Jammu’s day temperature continued to fall gradually. It was nearly 23.0 degree Celsius on January 2, 18.2 degree C on January 3, 15.7 degree C on January 4 while today it was recorded as low as 10.2 degree Celsius. The day temperature has gone around 9 degree Celsius below normal today. The normal day temperature in Jammu should be around 19 degree Celsius.
The night temperature in Jammu has also shown sharp decline. It has gone to 5.6 degree C, as recorded at Chatha observatory of SKUAST-Jammu. On January 4, Jammu recorded the minimum temperature of 8 degree Celsius while it was around 8.5 degree C on January 3. It was lowest (1.2 degree C) of the season on December 30. The winter capital, Jammu also had recorded a minimum temperature of 3.8 degree Celsius and maximum 9.3 degree C on Dec 26.
Due to foggy weather conditions, the Sun was not visible through out the day in plain and semi-plain areas of Jammu region. As the earth is not experiencing heat waves, the temperature continued to fall. The weather has also badly hit the train services by one hour to ten hours, while many flights were late by two to four hours today. One of the flight was also cancelled from Delhi due to poor visibility.
A Met official disclosed that Gulmarg, the famous ski-resort in north Kashmir, received fresh snowfall today even as minimum temperatures at most of the places in the Valley and in Ladakh region appreciated by several degrees, providing relief from the intense cold to the residents.
“There was light snowfall of 1.25 inch in Gulmarg during the night,” the Met official added.
The official said the night temperatures increased at most places in the Valley with the mercury in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, settling near the freezing point.
Srinagar registered an increase of over four degrees from the previous night’s low of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius to settle at minus 0.3 degree Celsius.
Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir valley, recorded a low of minus 3.4 degrees Celsius compared to minus 3.8 degrees Celsius the previous night.
The mercury in Pahalgam resort in south Kashmir, registered an increase of over three degrees from minus 6.4 degrees Celsius the previous night to settle at minus 3.0 degrees Celsius, the official said.
The official said the minimum temperature in the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg settled at minus 5.8 degrees Celsius, against the previous night’s minus 5.6 degrees Celsius.
The night temperatures in Kupwara, in north Kashmir, increased by almost three degrees to settle at a low of minus 1.5 degrees Celsius, while Kokernag, in south, recorded a minimum of minus 3.3 degrees Celsius.
The minimum temperature in Leh, in the frontier Ladakh region, increased by over two degrees to settle at minus 10.0 degrees Celsius compared to the previous night’s low of minus 12.2 degrees Celsius, the official said.
He said Kargil, also in Ladakh region, registered a low of minus 14.0 degrees Celsius, a degree up from minus 15.0 degrees Celsius the previous night and was the coldest recorded place in the state.
At Katra Mata Vaishnodevi minimum temperature was recorded as 7.5 degree C while maximum 16.9 degee C, Bhaderwah minimum 0.6 degree C and maximum 13.5 degree C, Udhampur, minimum 1.8 degree C and maximum 18.7 degree C.
The Met official has predicted rain and snow fall at some higher reaches of the State in next 24 hours while the weather would remain mainly cold and partially dry at few places. He said the chances of snowfall are maximum and most frequent during this period and the weather remains cold during as the day temperature also dips drastically, freezing most of the water bodies including the famous Dal Lake.
In most of the Jammu areas, the weatherman has predicted foggy and cloudy weather conditions in next two-three days. He said foggy and cloudy weather would continue to paralyze normal life in most of the parts of Jammu region, specially Jammu, Samba and Kathua belt.
DySP Jammu Airport, Mr Raina when contacted told the Excelsior that most of the flights were late today due to dense fog during morning hours. The visibility was very poor and most of the flights could operate from the Jammu airport only after 1.20 pm. Even the first flight which arrives here at round 9 am could land at around 1.22 pm today. Mr Raina said most of the flights were rescheduled and their departure timings were changed. He said even Delhi-Leh-Jammu flight also operated today.
Meanwhile, a Northern Railways spokesman said that many trains were late by one hour to seven hours as dense fog continue to envelop plain areas of northern region. Pooja Express which was scheduled to arrive here at around 8.10 am arrived 3.15 pm. Its departure time is 6.15 pm from Jammu Railway Station. Varanasi Express arrived at 1.40 instead of its scheduled time of 11.25 am. Utter Sampark Kranti around one and half hours late, Malwa Express around three and half hours late, Kolkatta-Jammu arrived at 10.20 am instead of its time of 8.30 am, Jhelum Express at 12.30 pm instead of 10 am, Swaraj Exp at 5.30 pm instead of 3.10 pm, Bathinda -Jammu at 8.40 am instead of 6.10 am, Hemkund 6.15 am instead of 4.30 am, Jammu Mail 12 noon instead of 9.15 am, Himsagar at 3.15 pm instead of 1.15 pm, Shri Shakti at 4.10 am instead of 3.10 am, Shalimar at 7.15 am instead of 5.20 am, Rajdhani at 7.20 am instead of 5.45 am, Sarai Rohilla-Jammu at 8.20 am instead of 7.15 am, Morya Dwaj at 4 pm instead of 11.50 am while Tata Nagar-Jammu 4 pm instead of 2.45 pm today.
The cloudy and foggy weather conditions have also affected normal vehicular traffic on the highways. Many inter-state buses from Delhi, Chandigarh, Amristsar, Haridwar, Ludhiana, Jaipur etc and other destinations are arriving two to five hours late these days. It is said that due to poor visibility on the highways, the number of road accidents have also increased recently in the northern region. The chilly weather conditions have also restricted the farming activity and free movement of the people during early morning.
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