Srinagar, Jan 14: The severe cold wave continued its grip across Kashmir as most places recorded a further drop in minimum temperatures last night.
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 5.2 degrees Celsius on Tuesday night, down from the minus 4.9 degrees Celsius recorded the previous night, the MeT official said.
The parts of the world famous Dal Lake and several water bodies in Kashmir froze today as sub-zero minimum temperatures across the Valley dropped further.
Shopian in south Kashmir was the coldest place in the Valley, where the mercury settled at minus 7.5 degrees Celsius.
According to MeT, Pulwama in south Kashmir also reeled under intense cold at –7.0°C, while Kupwara and Pahalgam recorded lows of –6.2°C and –6.0°C, respectively.
In ski resort of Gulmarg, night temperature settled at –3.8°C while it was–2.2°C in Sonamarg.
Kupwara recorded a low of–6.2°C while in Pahalgam night temperature settled at–6.0°C.
The cold conditions also persisted across the Jammu region as several places recorded low minimum temperatures, with Bhaderwah remaining the coldest at 0.5°C.
Weather is likely to remain mainly dry in Jammu and Kashmir upto Thursday.
A change in weather is forecast from January 16–17, with generally cloudy conditions and light rain or snow at scattered places.
According to MeT, on January 18, the weather is expected to be partly to generally cloudy, with light snowfall over isolated higher reaches. A more active Western Disturbance is likely between January 19 and 21, when generally cloudy conditions with light to moderate rain or snow at scattered to fairly widespread places are expected.
Similar weather is likely to continue from January 22 to 24, with light to moderate rain or snowfall predicted at many places across the union Territory.
The Kashmir Valley is in the midst of ‘Chilla-i-Kalan’ — a 40-day period of extreme cold, when the chances of snowfall are the highest. It began on December 21 and will end on January 30.