Intense cold in Valley, Srinagar shivers at – 7.6° C
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Jan 17: People in Kashmir will get relief from intense cold weather conditions late next week as the weatherman has forecast wet weather on Friday even as extreme cold weather conditions continued in the Valley today.
The dense fog engulfed Srinagar and other parts of the Valley for the third day, causing traffic disruptions.
Weatherman forecast light to moderate snowfall in the higher reaches and rain in the plains of Jammu and Kashmir between January 22 to January 25.
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“A Western Disturbance is most likely to affect J&K and Ladakh from the evening of January 22 to the forenoon of January 25”, he said.
“This will result in fairly widespread to widespread light to moderate snowfall/rain in the plains of J&K during the above mentioned dates with the main activity on January 24,” he added.
The official said that the new system would be much weaker than the previous one. “So we expect precipitation of lower intensity compared to the previous one”, he said
And the official said that the minimum temperature in Srinagar remained almost six degrees below normal for the fifth consecutive day.
Srinagar recorded minus 8.4 degree Celsius on January 14, minus 8.2 degree Celsius on the previous night while it settled at minus 7.8 degree Celsius on January 13, same as recorded eight years ago on 14th January 2012. In 1991, Srinagar witnessed a low of minus 11.8 degree Celsius.
Meanwhile, the minimum temperatures continued far below normal in other parts of the Valley, settling at minus 8.7 degree Celsius in Pahalgam against minus 9.4 degree Celsius on the previous night.
Qazigund recorded a low of minus 9.0 degree Celsius against 10.0 degree Celsius on the previous night and was the coldest place in the Valley. Kokernag recorded a low of minus 8.7 degree Celsius, the same as on the earlier night.
Against minus 6.8 degree Celsius on the previous night in Kupwara, the mercury settled at minus 6.2 degree Celsius in the North Kashmir district.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 4.2 degree Celsius against minus 5.4 degree Celsius on the earlier night. Leh recorded a low of minus 12.1 degree Celsius and Kargil recorded minus 17.4 degree Celsius.
And Dal lake and other water bodies continued to be frozen. The boatmen faced difficulty in rowing their boats in the frozen lake. They had to cut the ice to make way for their boats. The other water bodies including ponds were also frozen across Kashmir.
The water taps continue to be frozen leading to water shortage across Kashmir. In the morning and evening, the roads had become a sheet of ice causing slippery conditions.
Kashmir is in the middle Chillai-Kalan, the 40-day winter period which commenced on December 21 and ends on January 31. The period is considered the harshest of the winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum.
The cold wave, however, continues even after that in Kashmir with a 20-day-long ‘Chillai-Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day-long ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold). Already, Kashmir valley received heavy snowfall earlier this month, disrupting normal life.
The Weatherman has forecast mainly dry weather with morning fog/mist at isolated places of Kashmir valley and plains of Jammu division in the next 24 hours and no significant change in next two days.
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