Srinagar, Jan 8: Kashmir Valley continued to reel under intense cold with temperatures plummeting further as Srinagar recorded the season's lowest of minus 5.5 degrees celsius.
 The fringes of the famous Dal Lake and other water bodies here were frozen due to remarkable fall in night temperature over the past couple of days owing to clear skies.
 The inhabitants of Dal Lake faced tremendous hardships in reaching the banks due to frozen surface of the water. Shikarawalas were seen breaking the ice to reach the banks of the lake this morning, while people in many areas complained that the drinking water pipes running into their homes were frozen.
 The night temperature in Srinagar was two degrees below normal during this part of the season, a spokesman of the MET office said, adding, the minimum temperature in the summer capital registered a drop of 0.6 degrees from yesterday's minus 4.9 degrees Celsius.
 The spokesman said Kargil town in frontier region of Ladakh was the coldest recorded place in the state with mercury considerably dropping to a low of minus 20.0 degrees Celsius from yesterday’s 16.4 degrees Celsius.
 The nearby Leh town also showed a significant decrease in night temperature with the minimum settling at minus 17.8 degrees Celsius. The minimum in Leh yesterday was minus 14.2 degrees Celsius.
 He said the minimum temperature in the famous skiing resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir was minus 10.0 degree Celsius and the night temperature in Pahalgam hill resort in south, which also serves as a base camp during annual Amarnath yatra, dropped a degree to minus 9.2 degrees Celsius.
 The highway town of Qazigund in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 6.0 degrees Celsius, while the night temperature in Kokernag was minus 4.6 degrees Celsius and in north Kashmir’s Kupwara town the minimum settled at minus 5.6 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said.
 The MET Department said there is a possibility of rainfall or snowfall later this week, which may bring some respite in the cold wave conditions.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 8 Jan 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 8 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 Jan 2013 00:00:00 IST