Gopal Sharma
SRINAGAR/ JAMMU, Nov 15: The rain and season’s first snowfall on the higher reaches of Kashmir and parts of Jammu blocked Jammu-Leh highway and Mughal Road while cold wave has gripped many areas of the regions since last evening.
The higher reaches of Kashmir received fresh snowfall overnight while the plains recorded light rainfall breaking the dry spell in the Valley which had led to rise in respiratory ailments. (Click here to watch video)
Official sources said that higher reaches of Pir Panjal in Poonch, Rajouri, Budhal and Ramban and Seoj Dhar in Bhaderwah and Dudu-Basantgarh area also received season’s first snowfall. Due to about four to six inches snow from Poshana to Pir Gali on Mughal Road and on other side of Pir Gali and a minor land slide en route, the Mughal Road was closed to traffic.
A senior Police official told the Excelsior tonight that though snow was cleared and all the stranded vehicles were pulled up from the entire stretch by this afternoon but due to fresh snowfall and rain in the area this evening, the road could not be opened to traffic. He said the vehicles on both the sides will be allowed to ply only if the weather improves tomorrow and fresh snow is cleared.
Meanwhile, the traffic on 434-km-long national highway, linking the Ladakh region with Kashmir was resumed after remaining closed due to snowfall last night. However, the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was through for traffic despite rain since early this morning.
A Traffic Police official said that traffic on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway was suspended on Wednesday morning following snowfall at Zojilla pass. The road had become slippery due to snowfall. Due to improvement in the weather, the snow had melted and road became operational. But now since it was raining again in the area, the traffic has again been suspended in this belt this evening.
”We are allowing one way traffic from Ladakh to Kashmir from very early in the morning and later from Srinagar to Leh in the afternoon everyday to avoid any accident or traffic jam on Zojila. However, today traffic was allowed after remaining suspended for several hours. We allowed vehicles from Drass to Sonamarg,” he said.
He further said that heavy vehicles will ply from Srinagar to Jammu and they will have to pass Jawahar tunnel before 10 AM. Light vehicles will ply from both sides, he added.
A Meteorological Department official said that Valley’s upper reaches received fresh snowfall last night, while light rainfall was recorded in the plains.
Affarwat peaks in Gulmarg in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district recorded three inches of fresh snowfall and it was snowing intermittently.
Sonamarg and its adjoining areas in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal also received two-three inches of snowfall.
Srinagar and other areas in the plains across the Valley received rains during the night. A Met department official said that Srinagar recorded 2.2 mm of rainfall.
Owing to the overcast conditions, the minimum temperature at most of the places across the Valley, except Gulmarg in North Kashmir, stayed above the freezing point while day temperature stayed mostly below normal.
The mercury in Gulmarg settled at a low of minus 3 degrees Celsius, three notches down from the previous night’s zero degree Celsius while day temperature was recorded at 6.4 degree Celsius which is four degree below normal.
Srinagar registered the minimum temperature of 2.2 degrees Celsius, compared to 2.9 degrees Celsius the previous night. The day temperature in Srinagar was recorded at 15.6 degrees Celsius which is normal at this time of the year.
Kokernag in South Kashmir recorded a low of 2 degree Celsius and day temperature was recorded at 10.8 degree Celsius which is 3 degrees below normal.
The mercury in nearby Qazigund settled at 2.1 degrees Celsius during the night while day temperature was recorded at 11.2 degree Celsius, which is six degrees below normal.
Pahalgam registered a low of 1.8 degrees Celsius, a degree up from the previous night while day temperature settled at 12.4 degree Celsius, which is 3 degree below normal.
The mercury in Kupwara, in north Kashmir, settled at a low of 1.3 degrees Celsius, up from minus 0.7 degrees Celsius on the previous night while day temperature settled at 16.3 degree Celsius which is one degree below normal.
Leh recorded a minimum temperature of minus 2.7 degrees Celsius last night compared to minus 6.3 degrees Celsius the previous night while day temperature settled at 13.2 degree Celsius.
Kargil was the coldest recorded place in the state as the mercury there settled at minus 5 degrees Celsius while day temperature was 9.6 degree Celsius.
The Met office has forecast scattered to fairly widespread rainfall from today till November 18 in Kashmir.
The Jammu city recorded a maximum temperature of 23.8 degree Celsius and minimum 11.9 degree; holy township of Katra maximum 20 degree C and minimum 10.6 degree C; Bhaderwah town maximum 14.3 degree and minimum 7.4 degree C; Batote town maximum 13 degree C and minimum 6.7 degree C while Banihal town of Ramban district had maximum temperature of 14.5 degree C and minimum 5 degree Celsius. A sharp decline in the temperature of about 5 degree Celsius has been witnessed in Jammu during just last three days.
With improvement in the visibility after rains over night, some improvement has been witnessed in the arrival of train timings today, a Railway spokesman said.
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