Kashmir in tight grip of cold as rains, snow continue for 2nd day
Major roads remain closed; Weatherman predicts improvement from Oct 18; dry weather till Oct 24
Owais Gul
Srinagar, Oct 17 (KNO): The intermittent rainfall continued to lash plains of J&K for the second straight day while the upper reaches received fresh snowfall on Tuesday, bringing down the mercury further across the Union Territory.
The major roads including Srinagar-Jammu highway, Mughal Road and others remained closed for vehicular movement.
According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the winter chill returned in the Valley as the people were seen donning the traditional Pheran and other warm clothes after the mercury plummeted in wake of the fresh snowfall and rains for the second straight day here.
Details available with KNO said that Sadhna Top has received a snowfall of nearly one ft till today while Afarwat hills experienced a snowfall of six inches today.
In Gulmarg, a snowfall of nearly one inch was experienced today while Zojjila also recorded a snowfall of 6 inches.
According to a document prepared by a local Meteorological department (MeT), Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir received a precipitation of 20.9 mm till this morning while Qazigund received a rainfall of 47.4 mm.
Pahalgam received a rainfall of 27.4mm while the highest precipitation of 52.0 mm was recorded at Kokarnag, the document reads.
The wet spell has led to the further dip in mercury. According to the details, Srinagar recorded a maximum temperature of 11.6 degree Celsius while Anantnag recorded 9.2 degree Celsius today.
Gulmarg, a world famous ski-resort, recorded a maximum temperature of 2.0 degree Celsius while Pahalgam in South Kashmir recorded 9.1 degree Celsius.
The continuous wet spell has forced the closure of major roads including Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
The Srinagar-Jammu highway was closed for vehicular movement in wake of the landslide and shooting stones at multiple places. The highway has closed as a precautionary measure while the officials said the road clearance work is underway.
Some of the other roads including Bandipora to Gurez Road, Sinthan Top- Road, Sadnatop-Tangdar Road, Kishtwar Road and Mughal Road continue to remain closed due to fresh snowfall.
Meanwhile, Director MeT, Sonum Lotus told KNO that the weather conditions would improve from tomorrow.
“The weather is expected to turn pleasant from tomorrow as there is no forecast of any wet spell till October 24,” he said, adding that the temperature would also start increasing gradually from tomorrow—(KNO)
