Fog badly hits air, train traffic
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Dec 19: While entire region has come under the grip of spine-chilling cold, Jammu’s day temperature came nearly 8 degree Celsius below normal, while air and train traffic was badly affected due to fog during morning hours today.
Official sources said that at least 14 flights at Jammu Airport were delayed while another was diverted due to dense fog and poor visibility. No flight could land at the airport during morning hours. The departure timings of the flights operating from Jammu Airport were also rescheduled and passengers had to face the brunt of bad weather.
Over a dozen trains were also delayed by 30 minutes to 3 hours at Jammu Station as the dense fog has engulfed the entire northern region for the last one week. The passengers have been forced to wait for long at the stations under intense cold conditions.
A MeT spokesman said that minimum temperature across Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh increased by several degrees amid overcast conditions, providing relief to the people from the piercing cold. But day temperature has shown sharp fall. The day temperature in Jammu was 12 deg C which is 8 degree below normal temperature of 20 deg C. He also predicted scattered rain or snowfall during the next 48 hours across Jammu and Kashmir.
The weather remained mostly dry and cold in all the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh overnight but the minimum temperature witnessed an increase of one to 13 notches due to heavy cloud cover.
“There is a possibility of light snow or rains at scattered places in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday and Friday. After that the weather is likely to remain mainly dry till December end,” the Meteorological Department official said.
“Drass was the coldest recorded place in Ladakh with a low of minus 14.4 degrees Celsius against the previous night’s 27.7 degrees Celsius,” the official said, adding that Ladakh’s Leh town witnessed a rise of 5.3 degrees in the night temperature which settled at minus 12.6 degrees Celsius.
After witnessing the season’s coldest night at 4.7 degrees Celsius, Jammu saw an increase of almost four degrees in the minimum temperature which settled at 8.6 degrees Celsius. However, the residents of the city woke up to the foggy conditions and heavy cloud cover.
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 2.3 degrees Celsius against the previous night’s minus 3.7 degrees Celsius, while the famous ski resort- Gulmarg in Kashmir was the coldest recorded place in the Valley with a minimum of 7.2 degrees Celsius despite marking an increase of over four degrees.
He said Pahalgam hill resort in south Kashmir was freezing at minus 4.9 degrees Celsius against the previous night’s minus 10.3 degrees Celsius.
Banihal town in Ramban and Bhaderwah in Doda district were reeling under sub-zero temperature with a minimum of minus 2.2 and minus 2.0 degrees Celsius, respectively, he said.
Holy township of Katra, the base camp for the pilgrims of Mata Vaishno Devi Ji in Reasi district, registered a night temperature of 5.0 degrees Celsius, slightly up from the previous night’s 4.6 degrees Celsius while as Batote recorded a minimum of 0.7 degree night temperature, he added.
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