After recording temperatures below minus 7 degrees Celsius for consecutive five nights, summer capital Srinagar on Sunday night witnessed some improvement in temperature and recorded minus 6.4 degrees Celsius, although the cold wave as per Meteorological Department is expected to continue till Thursday.
Various water bodies including parts of the Dal Lake continue to freeze due to the low temperatures. The ski-resort Gulmarg in Baramulla recorded minus 6.9 degrees while Pahalgam recorded minus 6.8 degrees Celsius on Sunday night. Sub-zero temperatures have also been causing immense hardships for people due to freezing of supply lines. Qazigund, the gateway to the Valley on Sunday night recorded minus 8.3 degrees Celsius, making it the coldest recorded station in the Valley, MeT data said. Kupwara in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 5.2 degrees Celsius, while Kokernag in south Kashmir had minus 6.9 degrees Celsius on Sunday night.
Kashmir is currently under the grip of ‘Chillai-Kalan’, the 40-day harshest winter period when a cold wave grips the region and the temperature drops considerably leading to the freezing of water bodies. The chances of snowfall are the most frequent during this period and most areas receive heavy snowfall.
The Meteorological Department has said a fresh Western Disturbance is most likely to affect J&K during January 22 evening to 25 forenoon.
“Due to this, widespread moderate snowfall in Kashmir, hilly areas of Jammu and some parts of Kargil district especially Minamarg, Drass and Zanskar and rains in plains of Jammu region are likely to occur, with the main activity on January 23-24. This may affect surface and air transportation,” the MeT official said