More snow in offing in J&K
Reeling under intense cold, Jammu and Kashmir is expected to be hit by another wet weather system from January 22, meteorological officials said.
They said that a Western Disturbance, winds blowing from the Mediterranean, is most likely to affect J&K and Kargil district of Ladakh between January 22 and 25.
Director MeT, Sonam Lotus, said the disturbances will give fairly widespread light to moderate snowfall and rains in plains of Jammu during the period with main activity on January 24.
“This system is much weaker than the previous one. So we expect precipitation of lower intensity compared to previous one,” said Lotus.
After the precipitation, the Kashmir valley has been reeling under intense cold.
Lotus said that Srinagar, the summer capital of J& K, recorded a minimum temperature of -8.4 degrees Celsius on January 14, which broke the record of last 25 years.
“There was complete freezing of the Dal Lake with kids playing on frozen lake which happened after almost three decades,” he added.
The weather office said the coldest place in the valley on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday was Qazigund in south Kashmir where the mercury plunged to minus 9 degrees Celsius, around 5.7 notches below normal.
The ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded minus 4. 2 degrees while the temperature went to minus 8.7 degrees in tourist resort of Pahalgam.
“Srinagar froze at minus 7.6 degrees, some 5.5 degrees lower than normal,” said Mohammad Hussain Mir, a meteorologist at MeT centre in Srinagar.
Jammu division’s Bhaderwah and Batote regions recorded 1.5 degrees and 4.2 degrees, respectively.
In the union territory of Ladakh, Leh froze at minus 12.1 degrees while Kargil was even colder at minus 17.4 degrees. The coldest place of the country, Drass, recorded bone chilling minus 25.6 degrees.