Night temperature significantly drops across many places in Kashmir

A significant drop in night temperature was recorded in many places of Kashmir, while the summer capital Srinagar saw the minimum temperature hovering around freezing point, a MeT department official said Wednesday. The minimum temperature settled at minus 0.3 degrees Celsius in Srinagar Tuesday night, he said.

Qazigund – the gateway town to the Valley – in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 2.0 degree Celsius, a dip of nearly three degrees over the previous night. The nearby Kokernag town registered a low of minus 5.3 degrees Celsius Tuesday night as the mercury plunged five degrees, the MeT said. Mercury settled at a low of minus 0.7 degree Celsius in Kupwara town in north Kashmir. Gulmarg ski-resort in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 10.6 degrees Celsius Tuesday night, a plunge of

6.6 degrees over the previous night, while the Pahalgam tourist resort, in south Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 5.5 degrees Celsius, the official said. Leh, in the frontier Ladakh region, recorded a low of 5.6 degrees Celsius, a dip of nearly eight degrees over previous night. The mercury in nearby Kargil settled at a low of minus 15.4 degrees Celsius, the weatherman said. Kargil was the second coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir after Drass town where the minimum temperature settled at minus 16.6 degrees Celsius.

Kashmir is currently under the grip of Chillai-Kalan – the 40-day harshest period of winter when chances of snowfall are most frequent and temperatures drop considerably. Chillai-Kalan ends on January 31, but cold wave continues even after that in Kashmir. The 40-day period is followed by 20 day-long 'Chillai-Khurd' (small cold) and 10 day-long 'Chillai Bachha' (baby cold). 

(With inputs from agencies.)