At -5.6°C, Srinagar sees season’s coldest night

The meteorological department (MeT) said that Srinagar’s temperature was around 3.7 degrees below normal

Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar saw the coldest night of the season with mercury dipping to minus 5.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday. The surfaces of water bodies and water from taps was seen frozen at many places across Kashmir valley as sub-zero temperatures continued.

A man rows a boat over a partially frozen surface of the Dal Lake in Srinagar on Sunday. (Waseem Andrabi/HT)

The meteorological department (MeT) said that Srinagar’s temperature was around 3.7 degrees below normal.

The southern Konibal area and Pahalgam tourist resort were the coldest at minus 6.5 degrees Celsius each. The ski resort of Gulmarg in the north recorded temperature of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius, the only place with temperature some 3.4 notches above normal.

The meteorological update said that the gateway to Kashmir in the south, Qazigund recorded a minimum of minus 5 degrees Celsius and the southern Kokernag saw a low of minus 2.7 degrees Celsius. In north Kashmir, Kupwara recorded a minimum temperature of minus 5.3 degrees Celsius, some 2.6 notches below normal.

Kashmir’s harshest winter period, “Chilla-i-Kalan”, began on December 21 with mercury dropping several notches below the freezing point at multiple places. It will end on January 31.

December and the first week of January recorded deficit precipitation in J&K. MeT has predicted mostly dry weather till January 14.

Kashmir’s winter pans out in three stages, starting with the 40-day intense period from December 21 accompanied with most of the snowfall, followed by 20 days of comparatively less intense chill (Chilla-i-Khurd), and 10 days of mild cold (Chill-e-Bache).