Heavy rains lashed plains while higher reaches of the Valley received light to moderate snowfall on Monday, bringing down the temperatures sharply. The Meteorological Department has predicted the ongoing wet spell to continue for next one week with the next two days likely to witness some improvement in weather.
“Overall the next one week will witness rainy weather. The weather is likely to remain cloudy on Tuesday and Wednesday with rains at scattered places. Another Western Disturbance is likely to hit J&K on March 10 evening resulting in fairly widespread rains during March 11 and 12,” said Deputy Director MeT Department, Mukhtar Ahmad. He said another wet spell was likely during March 14 and 15.
Parts of the Valley including summer capital Srinagar received light rainfall on Sunday but the intensity of rains picked up on Monday throughout the day making temperatures to fall by almost 8 to 10 degrees Celsius. The ski-resort Gulmarg in north Kashmir received almost 1 feet fresh snowfall while upper reaches including Gurez, Razadan Top and Tulail recorded 5 to 7 inches of fresh snowfall, MeT data said. Srinagar recorded 17.5 millimetres of rainfall during the last two days while Qazigund recorded almost 16 mm rainfall between Sunday and Monday.
As per MeT data, Pahalgam recorded 6.9 mm , Kupwara 18 mm, Kokernag almost 9 mm rainfall during the last two days.
The inclement weather has led to a sharp fall in temperatures after the Valley witnessed pleasant weather in February and first week of this month with day temperature in Srinagar touching almost 20 degrees Celsius. However, people could be seen once again using woollen clothes and heating appliances on Monday as temperatures dropped sharply.
Srinagar recorded 6.6 degrees Celsius on Monday and 5.8 degrees Celsius minimum temperature on Sunday night. Gulmarg recorded 0.2 degrees on Monday and minus 1.7 degrees Celsius on Sunday night. Meanwhile, the MeT department has predicted light rains to continue for the next two days till Wednesday. However, the MeT advisory has issued a “yellow alert” for March 11 and 12 saying that there were chances of “fairly widespread rains” during these two days. It may be mentioned that the Valley after witnessing a harsh winter and record-breaking minus temperatures had seen an early arrival of spring. The early blossom of flowers especially almond flowers in the Badamwari in downtown Srinagar has created a scenic view attracting visitors. After dry and warm weather for the last few weeks, officials were hopeful that depending on weather, the Tulip Garden in Srinagar will be thrown open for tourists between March 20 and 25.