The Meteorological Department on Wednesday forecast generally cloudy weather across Jammu and Kashmir with the possibility of rain and snowfall during next 24 hours.
The parts of North Kashmir, including Gurez in Bandipora, Gulmarg in Baramulla and Macchil in Kupwara, experienced fresh snowfall today. The snowfall was also reported in Sonamarg.
Fresh snowfall in Gurez has led to the closure of Bandipora- Gurez road due to accumulation of snow at Razdan Pass.
According to officials, snowfall depth in the lower zone of Tulail ranged between 14 and 15 inches. They said Razdan Pass received over one foot of fresh snowfall.
The Tulail Valley recorded around five to six inches of snowfall while Dawar town received nearly three to four inches of snowfall.
“There is a possibility of light to moderate rain and snow at most places during December 31 night to 1st January morning/forenoon. Few higher reaches and extreme higher reaches of North & Central Kashmir may receive moderate to heavy snowfall,” a MeT official said.
He said January 2 would be partly to generally cloudy with possibility of brief spell of light rain/snow over isolated places.
“From January 3 to January 5, the weather is likely to remain partly cloudy, while January 6 may see generally cloudy conditions with the possibility of light snowfall over isolated higher reaches of north and central Kashmir,” the MeT official said.
He said the weather conditions are expected to remain partly cloudy from January 7 to January 8, partly to generally cloudy on January 9 and 10, and partly cloudy from January 11 to January 13.
The MeT has advised travellers and transporters to follow traffic and administrative advisories during the period.
It also warned of moderate fog over the plains of the Jammu division, with dense fog at isolated places during the next 48 hours.
Meanwhile, owing to a cloud cover, the night temperatures remained higher than the seasonal average and settled above the freezing point at most places.
Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of 2.3 degrees Celsius, which is 4.9 degrees Celsius above the normal for this time of year, they said.
Gulmarg remained the coldest location in the Valley with the mercury settling at minus 3.0 degrees Celsius, officials said.
In Pahalgam, the night temperature settled at minus 1.8 degrees Celsius — seven degrees above the normal temperature, and Qazigund saw the mercury settle at 1.4 degrees Celsius.
Kashmir is currently in grip of ‘Chilla-e-Kalan’, a 40-day period of extreme cold.