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Season’s first snowfall in Kashmir’s plains
The road clearing machines were pressed into service in upper areas of Gulmarg in Kupwara, Bandipora
Many towns in plain areas of north and south Kashmir received the season’s first snowfall on Thursday, meanwhile night temperatures rose across the valley, including Srinagar, due to cloud cover.
The Valley’s upper reaches and the tourist resorts of Gulmarg and Sonmarg received fresh snowfall.
The road clearing machines were pressed into service in upper areas of Gulmarg in Kupwara, Bandipora.
However, snowfall in the higher reaches, which began in Wednesday, continued at several places. The plains of Shopian, Pulwama, and Baramulla, as well as the upper areas of Anantnag, Budgam, and Bandipora received light snowfall. However, there was no snowfall in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.
The higher reaches of the valley, including the tourist resorts of Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Tangmarg, Gurez and the Zojila Pass, saw light to moderate snowfall. Gulmarg is known for its winter tourism, especially skiing. Last year, the ski resort received snowfall in the last week of January. “Snow always brings joy in Gulmarg and this time the early snowfall has brought large number of tourists here,” said Owais Ahmad, a tour operator in Gulmarg. “We expect heavy snowfall on Christmas and New Year which will be an added attraction. Already hotels at the ski resort have advanced bookings.”
Due to accumulation of snow along the Zojila Pass, the Srinagar-Leh highway was closed for traffic, while the Bandipora-Gurez road and Mughal Road were also shut, officials said.
In the past two months, upper reaches of Kashmir have received back to back light snowfall. However, a heavy snowfall is still awaited here. Compared to last year, this time there has been early snowfall in different parts of Kashmir.
The meteorological centre in Srinagar had already predicted a fresh spell of snowfall during the night.
Weather experts expect some impact of La Nina weather phenomenon in J&K.
“Over the past 45 years, trends indicate that during La Niña events, Jammu and Kashmir typically experiences below-normal precipitation in December and February, with near-normal precipitation in January. Minimum temperatures generally remain below normal in December and January but rise above normal in February,” said independent weather spotter Faizan Arif.
“However, regional variations may occur, leading to fluctuations beyond these patterns,” he said.
Meanwhile, the weather is going to be dry for the next one week.
“From December 12-20, the weather will be generally dry. Overall, nothing significant till 20th December, “ MET office said in a statement adding that cold & dry weather will generally prevail over many stations during the next 10 days.
