Kashmir sees slight reprieve from extreme cold conditions

Weather conditions in Kashmir continued to improve even as minimum temperature in most places of they valley stayed close to the freezing point, officials said here on Friday.

Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of 2.6 degrees Celsius, up from 0.3 degrees Celsius on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, officials said.

Gulmarg, the famous skiing resort in north Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 5.5 degrees Celsius compared to the previous night’s 3.5 degrees Celsius.

The officials said Pahalgam, which serves as the base camp for the annual Amarnath Yatra, recorded a low of minus 0.4 degrees Celsius, slightly up from minus 0.8 degrees Celsius the previous night. They said Qazigund, the gateway town to the valley, recorded a minimum temperature of 0.4 degrees Celsius, while the nearby south Kashmir town of Kokernag recorded a low of minus 0.2 degrees Celsius.

The mercury at Kupwara in north Kashmir settled at a low of 0.8 degrees Celsius. The MeT office has forecast snow/rain of moderate to heavy intensity till January 8. Heavy snow is expected in some places, it said. Kashmir is currently under the grip of the 40-day harshest winter period known as ‘Chilla-i-Kalan’ which began on December 21.

It is a period when cold wave grips the region and the temperature drops considerably, leading to the freezing of water bodies and water supply lines. Chances of snowfall are the highest during this period and most areas, especially in the higher reaches, receive heavy to very heavy snowfall. The ‘Chilla-i-Kalan’ will end on January 31, but the cold wave will continue with a 20-day-long ‘Chillai-Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day-long ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold).