For the third consecutive day, summer capital Srinagar witnessed an improvement in temperatures with minimum temperature recorded at 0.6 degrees Celsius on Friday night. As sunshine greeted the Valley on Saturday after many weeks, Srinagar recorded 10.8 degrees Celsius, the highest day temperature this season so far.
However, ski-resort Gulmarg continued to freeze and recorded minus 10.4 degrees Celsius on Friday night, making it the coldest recorded station in the Valley, MeT data said. It recorded 2.4 degrees Celsius on Saturday.
The improvement in temperatures has come after the Valley witnessed freezing low temperatures for the last several weeks. This has led to a huge respite to people who have been suffering due to freezing supply lines and water storages caused by low temperatures during Chilai Kalan. Srinagar had recorded minus 8.8 degrees Celsius on the last night of Chilai Kalan, registering the coldest night of the last 30 years.
Meanwhile, Pahalgam recorded minus 6.2 degrees Celsius on Friday night, several notches below the temperature recorded a day earlier in this health resort. Qazigund recorded minus 3.2 degrees while Kupwara minus 1.8 degrees Celsius on Friday night.
The MeT department has predicted dry weather in Jammu and Kashmir for next one week. The Valley recently witnessed the harshest Chilai Kalan in the last 30 years during which low temperatures caused freezing of water bodies including Dal Lake. Heavy snowfall during January 4 and 6 cut off the Valley from the rest of the world for five days after both air and surface traffic had been affected.