After reeling under a cold wave, the Valley on Monday got some respite as it received a light snowfall while a significant improvement in the night temperatures was recorded.
While people continue to suffer due to frozen water supply lines caused by freezing temperatures witnessed during the 40-day harshest winter period of Chilai Kalan, summer capital Srinagar recorded minus 3.1 degrees Celsius on Sunday night.
On Saturday, Srinagar had recorded the coldest night of the last 30 years at minus 8.8 degrees Celsius.
However, parts of the Valley received light snowfall last night. People woke up to a thin blanket of snow, which made the roads slippery causing inconvenience to commuters.
Temperatures:
The ski-resort Gulmarg on Sunday night recorded minus 8.2 degrees while Pahalgam in south Kashmir recorded minus 6.1 degrees Celsius. However, Kokernag was the coldest recorded station as per MeT data and witnessed mercury plummet to minus 9.5 degrees on Sunday night.
While the cloudy weather conditions have brought some respite from the cold wave, the day temperatures also saw an improvement. Srinagar which recorded the coldest day of the season on Sunday at 0.6 degrees, on Monday recorded 5.9 degrees Celsius. Similarly, Gulmarg which had been witnessing sub-zero temperatures for the last few days, on Monday saw improvement and recorded 0.2 degrees Celsius maximum temperature.
MeT predicts light snowfall between Tuesday, Wednesday:
The Meteorological Department has predicted the wet spell to continue till Thursday. MeT forecast said that between Tuesday night and Wednesday, there are chances of snowfall with “maximum chances of a light snowfall in the plains on Wednesday.”
Speaking with the Greater Kashmir, Deputy Director MeT, Mukhtar Ahmad said a wet spell was likely between Tuesday night and Wednesday. “During this spell we may witness light spell of snowfall of 2 to 3 inches in the plains on Wednesday,” Ahmad said.
The MeT official ruled out the possibility of a heavy snowfall but said “only few places in Valley higher reaches could receive heavy snowfall”. He said “inclement weather is likely again between Wednesday night and Thursday” adding that an improvement in weather will be seen from Friday.
The 40-day Chilai Kalan which ended on Saturday is followed by the 20-day ‘Chillai-Khurd’ and 10-day ‘Chillai-Bachha’.