Fayaz Bukhari/
Gopal Sharma
SRINAGAR/JAMMU, Jan 4: Season’s first snowfall in Srinagar and fresh in the rest of Kashmir, today gave people respite from the intense cold and dry weather conditions as the mercury settled above the freezing point in most places of the Valley for the first time since Chillai Kalan began last month on December 21 while chilling cold gripped most parts of Jammu region with the cloudy weather and rain at many places today.
The day temperature in Kashmir valley plummeted several notches with Srinagar witnessing the coldest day of the season at 3.3 degree Celsius.
Kashmir valley received light snowfall accompanied by rains with Srinagar experiencing the first snowfall of the season bringing respite to the people from intense cold and dry weather conditions that prevails here for last two weeks. The intense cold weather had led to freezing of some of the water bodies including fringes of Dal lake and water tapes.
The snowfall led to slippery road conditions at several places including Jawahar Tunnel area. This led to traffic jams.
The Internet services in Kashmir remained disrupted in the morning for several hours due to the snowfall. The broadband internet services on landlines and mobile internet services of almost all the operators remained down in the morning. However, they were restored in the afternoon.
The snowfall also affected the power supply across Kashmir valley. Residents of several areas complained frequent power breakdowns since this morning.
The snowfall began in the morning and it received 2.8 mm of rainfall during the night. The minimum temperature here went up by nearly five degrees to settle above the freezing point at 2.2 degrees Celsius. The day temperature settled at 3.3 degree Celsius, some four degree below normal which is the lowest day temperature in the season.
Most of the higher reaches of the valley, including Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Pahalgam, received moderate snowfall during the night, while the plains experienced snow since the morning.
While Gulmarg- the famous ski-resort in North Kashmir, received over one feet of snowfall. Over three inches snowfall was recorded in the tourist resort of Pahalgam in South. At all these three places the mercury stayed below the freezing point.
The mercury in Pahalgam went up by six notches to settle at minus 0.4 degree Celsius and day temperature settled at 1.3 degree Celsius and Gulmarg registered a low of minus 5.6 degree Celsius and maximum of 0.4 degree Celsius.
Moderate snowfall was received in Shopian, including Mughal Road, Sonamarg, Yousmarg, Amarnath Cave, Sadhna Pass, Gurez and Razdan top.
Keeping with the trend, mercury increased in other places in the Valley as well with Qazigund, Kupwara and Kokernag registering the temperatures of 2.4 degree Celsius, 1.4 degree Celsius and 1.6 degree Celsius, respectively. The day temperatures at these places settled at 4.1 degree Celsius, 2.5 degree Celsius and 4.2 degrees Celsius respectively.
Leh recorded a low of minus 7.8 degrees Celsius- an increase of nearly five degrees from the previous night’s minus 12.6 degree Celsius while the day temperature was recorded at 7.1 degree Celsius.
Kargil town was recorded as the coldest place in the State with a low of minus 9 degree Celsius and the day temperature of the place settled at 1.8 degree Celsius. The town had registered a low of minus 15 degree Celsius the previous night.
In many parts of Jammu region including Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi, Ramban. Doda and Udhampur, the rain and cloudy weather partially disrupted the normal life. In many areas of Jammu and Kathua also drizzle started in the afternoon. The temperature, experienced sharp fall in the afternoon. Entire plain region has gone under cold wave. There has been sharp fall in the day temperature from 20.4 degree C to 17.7 degree Celsius today. The minimum temperature recorded at Chatha observatory of SKAUST Jammu was 4.7 degree C. On Sunday, it was 5.9 degree C.
A senior Scientist from SKAUST Jammu said that due to western disturbances, the weather conditions have disturbed in this region. She said for the next 48 hours, the cloudy weather has been predicted and there may be rain at some isolated places. The day temperature would further fall in next couple of days.
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