Srinagar: Amid continuous cold wave, the harshest 40-day winter period ‘Chillai Kalan’ began on a dry note on Wednesday while the interior parts of Dal Lake in Srinagar partially froze on Tuesday night with the weather office predicting continued dry weather.
The MeT officials said that the mercury dropped below zero degrees during the night at all weather stations of Kashmir and Ladakh.
The MeT Department said that the ‘Chillai Kalan’ started on a dry note.
“The weather is mainly clear to partly cloudy. Dry weather is expected till December 25 evening,” the MeT officials said adding that they expect further drop in temperatures in the coming days.
Owing to temperature dropping to minus 3.4 degrees Celsius in Srinagar, the upper layer of water of Dal Lake had frozen in certain interior areas during the night.
The MeT officials said that minimum temperature plummeted to the season’s lowest in several places in Kashmir including Srinagar which recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius.
“The minimum temperature in Srinagar was 1.1 degrees Celsius below the previous night’s minus 3.1 degrees Celsius, and overall 2.7 degrees Celsius below normal and surpassed this season’s previous lowest of minus 3.6 degrees Celsius recorded in the summer capital last Friday,” they said.
The MeT officials said that ski resort of Gulmarg in Baramulla recorded a low of minus 4.6 degrees Celsius against minus 4 degrees Celsius the previous night, 0.2 degrees Celsius above normal.
They said that Qazigund recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius against minus 3.6 degrees Celsius the previous night, 2.6 degrees Celsius below normal for the gateway town of Kashmir.
The MeT officials said that Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 6.2 degrees Celsius against minus 5.4 degrees Celsius the previous night, 1.8 degrees Celsius below normal.
They said that it was also the coldest night this season in the famous tourist resort.
The MeT officials said Kokernag recorded a low of minus 2.4 degrees Celsius against minus 1.8 degrees Celsius the previous night, 0.7 degrees Celsius below normal.
They said that in Kupwara town, the mercury settled at minus 4.4 degrees Celsius against minus 3.9 degrees Celsius the previous night, 2 degrees Celsius below normal.
The MeT officials said that it was also the coldest temperature recorded so far in Kupwara.
They said Jammu recorded a low of 6.3 degrees Celsius against 6.7 degrees Celsius the previous night, 2.6 degrees Celsius below normal for the J&K’s winter capital.
The MeT officials said that in the cold desert Ladakh, Leh recorded a low of minus 11.8 degrees Celsius and Kargil minus 12.1 degrees Celsius.