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No major snow spell in J&K, Ladakh till mid-January: MeT
Official said November and December have been drier in Ladakh than last year and after an average rain spell on December 1 and 2 in Kashmir, there has been no snowfall
After deficit precipitation in December, the meteorologists of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh said no major snowfall was likely in the Himalayan region till mid-January.
They said that the months of November and December have been drier in Ladakh than last year and after an average rain spell on December 1 and 2 in Kashmir, there has been no snowfall.
“This winter’s November and December have been much warmer than last year in Ladakh and snowfall is largely deficient. No major snowfall is expected at least till January 15 in Ladakh, J&K and all northwest India,” said Sonam Lotus, director of Ladakh’s meteorological centre.
In J&K, December witnessed largely deficient snowfall with temperatures going below-zero most of the time during night.
MeT Srinagar centre’s director Mukhtar Ahmad said that J&K received 18mm average rain on December 1 and 2 and has seen dry weather conditions since.
“While December doesn’t witness much rain generally, there has also been no major snowfall and till January 15, we expect no major snow spell,” Ahmad added.
He said that there were no specific reasons behind the weather anomaly. “There are claims that it is because of El Nino, but going by the statistics of the past, we have seen 30-40 % wet spells during El Nino as well,” he said.
Kashmir had experienced significantly high temperatures in September and witnessed major deficiency in rainfall in August and September, with summer capital Srinagar recording lowest August-rainfall in 25 years.
Kashmir’s harshest winter period, “Chilla-i-Kalan”, began December 21 with the mercury dropping several notches below the freezing point at many places. It will end on January 31.
