Upper reaches of Kashmir valley receive fresh snowfall, plains lash by rains
Srinagar: Upper reaches of Kashmir valley received fresh snowfall while plains were lashed by rains resulting in closure of many roads as a precautionary measure, disrupting normal activities on Thursday.
Ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir received a fresh snowfall much to the delight of the tourists staying there. Doodpathri, Sonamarg, Mughal road, Pir Panjal range of mountains in south Kashmir and upper reaches of Kupwara and Bandipora also received fresh snowfall today.
Historical Mughal road connecting south Kashmir’s Shopian district with the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu division has been closed as a precautionary measure due to accumulation of fresh snow on the road, a traffic official said.
Traffic on strategic Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri road connection Zojila pass in Ladakh was also suspended due to the fresh snowfall. However, traffic officials said “snow clearance operation is in progress and after getting green signal, the road would be put through for vehicular traffic”.
Sadhna Top, Chowkibal Tangdhar, and Keran roads in the north Kashmir were also closed for traffic movement after fresh snowfall.
Kashmir valley plains including Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, were lashed by rains disrupting normal activities on Thursday.
Meteorological department forecast light to moderate rain at many places with thunderstorm/lightning and light snow over middle & higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir today.
The weather will remain partially to generally cloudy from December 1-2 and generally cloudy on December 3 while from December 4-10 it will be generally cloudy, the MeT office said.
A significant improvement in minimum temperature was observed today by 3-5°C and is expected to remain till December1 and thereafter the temperatures will fall by 2-4°C, it said.
MeT office has also issued an advisory stating that there could be a temporary disruption of surface transportation over hilly areas and important passes like Zojila, Sinthan Pass, Mughal road etc from November 30 to December 1 forenoon.
Srinagar, recorded a low of 5.3°C on Thursday against the 0.8°C recorded the previous night and it was 6.2°C above normal for the summer Capital of Jammu and Kashmir during this period of the season.
Pahalgam had a low of 1.5°C against the -1.0°C recorded a day ago and it was 4.9°C above normal for the tourist hot spot of south Kashmir.
Qazigund, on Srinagar-Jammu national highway recorded a minimum of 5.0°C against the 0.8°C recorded the previous night and Kokerng settled at 3.5°C against 2.6°C recorded on previous night.
Kupwara recorded a low of 4.2°C against the 1.3°C recorded a day ago and it was 5.3°C above normal for the frontier north Kashmir district.
Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded a low of -1.0°C against -1.8°C recorded the previous night and it was 2.1°C above normal for the famous ski resort of north Kashmir, a MeT office said.