Cold wave grips Kashmir, Shopian shivers at -8.2°C
Kashmir is under “Chillai Kalan” that started on December 20; though the period experiences most of the winter’s snowfall, this year has been largely dry with light to moderate snowfall intermittently in the mountains only
Amid the ongoing “Chilla-i-Kalan” (the 40-day harsh winter period), Kashmir saw further dip in temperature on Saturday. The temperatures went down several notches as interiors of Dal Lake and other water bodies partially froze. The J&K meteorological centre in Srinagar said the capital city witnessed temperature dropping to a low of -5.7°C on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, some 4°C below normal at this time of the year.
The previous night in Srinagar saw -6°C, which was the coldest recorded in the city so far this season. “The cold is tightening its grip although tourists have started visiting the city,” said Mohammad Umar, a shikara rower.
The southern district of Shopian registered the lowest at -8.2°C, followed by Pulwama at -8°C and Pahalgam at -7.8°C. The northern ski resort of Gulmarg witnessed a low of -6.8°C while central Kashmir’s Sonamarg also froze at -6.3°C.
Kashmir is under “Chillai Kalan” that started on December 20. Though the period experiences most of the winter’s snowfall, this year has been largely dry with light to moderate snowfall intermittently in the mountains only. Plains like Srinagar and other district headquarters of the valley have not yet received any major snowfall with mostly dry and sunny weather during the day.
The day temperatures were above normal across the Valley with Qazigund in south Kashmir, the gateway town into the Valley, recording a maximum of 12.1°C, some 6°C above normal. Kupwara in north Kashmir witnessed a day temperature of 11.2°C while the capital Srinagar also recorded above normal temperature settling at 10.9°C.
“The clear and sunny weather during the day prompts the night to witness extremely low temperatures,” said a J&K MeT expert. The MeT has predicted dry weather till January 15.
