Rains lashed Kashmir last night while the Meteorological Department has predicted heavy snowfall, rains on Friday and Saturday and issued a “yellow alert” for the weekend.
In its latest forecast, the MeT department has said that “widespread rains, snowfall” was likely during the weekend. The MeT advisory says the inclement weather during the weekend could cause a disruption in both surface and air traffic. Meanwhile, summer capital Srinagar and other parts of the Valley received light to moderate rainfall last night.
As per MeT data, Srinagar recorded 2.4 millimetre rainfall during Monday and Tuesday while ski-resort Gulmarg recorded almost 6 mm rainfall during the last two days. Pahalgam in south Kashmir recorded 3.2 mm, Qazigund 3.4 mm, Kupwara 6 mm, Banihal 1.2 mm and Kokernag 2.2 mm rainfall till 5:30 pm on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Valley continued to witness an increase in night temperatures and summer capital Srinagar recorded 6.6 degrees Celsius on Monday night and 15.6 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. As per the MeT department, no station in the Valley recorded sub-zero temperatures on Monday night. Ski-resort Gulmarg which has been witnessing freezing temperatures recorded 0 degrees Celsius on Monday night and 5.4 degrees maximum temperature on Tuesday.
The Valley this year witnessed the harshest 40-day winter period of 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 had cut off the Valley from the rest of the world for five days after both air and surface traffic had been affected.
After having recorded freezing temperatures for 55 days, summer capital Srinagar witnessed an increase in night temperature two weeks back. Srinagar had recorded minus 8.8 degrees on the last night of Chilai Kalan on January 30, registering the coldest night of the last 30 years.