Jammu and Kashmir. File | Photo credit: PTI
Srinagar experienced the coldest night of the season as Kashmir plunged into bitterly cold conditions with the minimum temperature dropping several degrees below the freezing point, officials said in Srinagar on Thursday (Dec 19, 2024).
“Many parts of Srinagar city also witnessed a thin layer of fog which recorded a minimum temperature of minus 6 degrees Celsius, as against minus 4.5 degrees Celsius the previous night,” officials said.
Wednesday (December 18, 2024) night was the coldest of the season in the city, and the night temperature was 4° below normal for this part of the season.
They say that due to the extreme cold, the banks of various water bodies including the famous Dal Lake have frozen and due to the cold, many areas of the valley cities and the water supply lines of the valley have also frozen.
For a long time, there has been an increase in the number of patients suffering from diseases such as colds and flu in the dry Himalayan cities and other areas of the Terai.
The tourist resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir, which also serves as the base camp for the annual Amarnath Yatra, recorded minus 6.8 degrees Celsius, a degree lower than the previous night.
The famous ski resort of Gulmarg recorded a temperature of minus 5 degrees Celsius. Konibal, a hamlet on the outskirts of Pampore town, was the coldest weather station in the valley as the minimum settled at minus 8.4 degrees Celsius.
Qazigund, the gateway to Kashmir, recorded a minimum temperature of minus 7 degrees Celsius, Kupwara in north Kashmir minus 6.2 degrees and Kokarnag in south Kashmir minus 5.3 degrees.
According to the Weather Forecasting Office, the weather will be mainly dry till December 26 as there is a possibility of light snowfall in the highlands of the valley during the night of December 21 to 22.
He said that there is a possibility of light snowfall in some higher places from the night of December 27 to the morning of December 28.
“However, the minimum temperature of the valley will drop further and it is expected that the cold wave will come in the scattered places for the next few days,” he said.
published – December 19, 2024 at 01:27 pm IST