The Kashmir Valley is in the grip of bone chilling cold with the night temperature staying many degrees below the freezing point.
The bone-chilling cold conditions led to the freezing of the parts of several water bodies, including the interiors of the Dal Lake as Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of minus 5.7 degrees Celsius on Friday night. The minimum temperature in the city was 3.8 degrees below the seasonal average.
Shopian town was the coldest across the valley, as the mercury settled at minus 8.2 degrees Celsius. Pahalgam tourist resort registered a low of minus 7.8 degrees Celsius.
The night temperature in the popular ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district settled at a low of minus 6.8 degrees Celsius, up from the previous night’s minus 7.2 degrees Celsius, they said.
The tourist resort of Sonamarg in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district recorded a minimum temperature of 6.3 degrees Celsius.
Qazigund registered a low of minus 6.3 degrees Celsius, the season’s coldest.
Kokernag recorded a low of minus 4.0 degrees Celsius, and Kupwara minus 6.1 degrees Celsius, they added.
Kashmir is currently in the midst of ‘Chilla-i-Kalan’, 40 days of extreme cold, during which night temperatures often drop several degrees below the freezing point, and the chances of snowfall are the highest.
‘Chilla-i-Kalan’, which began on December 21 last year, ends on January 30.
The plains of the valley have not received any snowfall so far this season.
The Meteorological Department has said the weather is likely to remain dry but cloudy till January 21.
A prolonged spell of stable weather is expected in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, with no major disturbances over the next 10 days.
“A weak Western Disturbances during last week of December in Kashmir resulted in snowfall in upper reaches and tourist spots of Gulmarg, Sonmarg and Pahalgam,” a MeT official said
According to the meteorological forecast partly cloudy conditions will prevail till January 15, followed by generally cloudy weather with light rain or snow over isolated higher reaches of the Kashmir division on January 16–17. Weather will remain partly to generally cloudy on January 18–19. On January 20, light snowfall is again likely over isolated higher reaches, while January 21 will be partly cloudy.