Slight improvement in cold as night temperature rises
Srinagar: Cold wave conditions have slightly improved in north and central Kashmir due to cloud cover, however, it intensified further in south Kashmir.
The Meteorological Centre Srinagar said that all the weather stations in Kashmir recorded subzero temperatures on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
They said the minimum temperature at Srinagar was recorded at minus 1.5 degrees Celsius, over two notches lower than Friday’s -3.5°C. Srinagar witnessed the coldest night of the season on Wednesday night as the minimum temperature plunged to -5.4°C.
Shopian in south Kashmir was the coldest place in Kashmir. The minimum temperature here was minus 6.5 degrees Celsius against minus 4.8 °C previous night.
The night temperature at the famous tourist resort of Pahalgam was minus 5.1 degrees Celsius.
The gateway to Kashmir in South Kashmir, Qazigund recorded a minimum of minus 3.8°C .The Kokernag area in south Kashmir observed a minimum of -3.6°C .
The ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded -2.8°C and Kupwara recorded a low of -1.0°C.
The harshest period of winter, which lasts 40 days and is known as “chillai kalan” , will begin next week.
While there was slight relief from the cold wave, there is a possibility of light snow over isolated places in the higher reaches on Saturday.
An independent weather forecaster said a weak Western Disturbance is going to affect Jammu and Kashmir between today afternoon and tomorrow morning.
“Under its influence, light rain/snow is expected at a few places, especially over higher reaches. Light snowfall is also expected in Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Gurez Valley, and Mughal Road,” he said.