Srinagar, Jan 10: The bone chilling cold returned to Kashmir and frontier region of Ladakh as the night temperature witnessed a drop of several notches in Jammu and Kashmir owing to clear skies.
 Kargil town in the cold desert of Ladakh was the coldest place in the state with a low of minus 18.2 degrees Celsius as compared to yesterday's minus 15.8 degrees Celsius.
 The nearby Leh town, also in Ladakh, witnessed a drop of four notches in the minimum temperature which settled at minus 16.4 degrees Celsius, a spokesman of the MeT office said.
 The Kashmir Valley, including Srinagar, experienced a light snowfall the previous night resulting in appreciable improvement in the night temperature with Srinagar recording a low of minus 0.3 degrees Celsius as compared to season's low of minus 5.5 a day earlier.
 However, the respite did not last long as the night temperature in Srinagar again dipped and settled at minus 2.6 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said.
 He said the minimum temperature in the famous skiing resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir was minus 9.2 degrees Celsius - down by five notches as compared to previous night.
 Similarly, the night temperature in Pahalgam hill resort in south Kashmir, which also serves as a base camp during annual Amarnath Yatra, fell by six notches and settled at minus 9.3 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said.
 He said the night temperature is expected to improve later this week as there is a possibility of fresh snowfall in more parts of the state on January 12 and 13.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 Jan 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:00:00 IST