Night temperatures rise in Valley

Srinagar, Dec 24: Barring famous resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam, the minimum temperature settled at above freezing point in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.
A meteorological department official here said that Srinagar, the summer capital of J&K recorded a low of 2.4 against last night’s 2.6°C and had rainfall of 1.3mm in last 24 hours till 0830 hours today.
Kashmir is presently under the grip of 40-day long harshest period of winter, known locally as ‘Chillai Kalan, which started from December 21. It is followed by a 20-day long ‘Chillai Khurd’ and a 10-day-long ‘Chilla Bachha’.
The mercury in the world famous resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district settled at minus 5.1°C against minus 3.7°C on the previous night, the official said. It was 0.7°C above normal for the famous resort which recorded 3.3cms of fresh snowfall.
Qazigund, the gateway town of Kashmir, had a low of 1.2°C against 0.8°C on the previous night, he said.
Pahalgam, the famous resort in south Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 1.3°C against 0.3°C on previous night and had snowfall of 0.4 cm.
Kokernag, also in south Kashmir, recorded a low of 1.2°C against 0.7°C on previous night, the official said. It had rainfall of 5.2mm during the time, the official added.
Kupwara town in north Kashmir recorded a minimum of 2.2°C against 2.6°C on the previous night while as it had 0.3mm of rain, the official said.
Jammu, the J&K’s winter capital, saw a low of 8.2°C which is normal for the place during this time of the year, he said.
Ladakh’s Leh had a low of 0.5°C against last night’s minus 6.6°C while automatic Kargil station recorded minimum of minus 6.4°C. Drass in Kargil, the second coldest place in the world after Siberia, recorded a low of minus 13.4°C, the official said.
As expected, he said, light to moderate snow(over higher reaches) occurred at isolated places of Kashmir and Ladakh, including Leh city(8cm). he said there’s no forecast of any major or significant snow or rainfall till December 26.
“Another snowspell is likely during 26 (Evening) -28th(F/N). Due to this, Light Snowfall( upto 1 Inches) in plains of Kashmir, Moderate( 5-6 inches) over higher reaches of J&K, Zojila-Minamarg axis, and light snowfall at scattered places of Ladakh, especially Kargil-Zanskar area and light rain is likely at scattered places of JMU region during above period, especially on 27th,” he said, adding, “There’s no forecast of any major snowfall till ending December. However, Heavy snowfall Upto 1Ft can’t be ruled out at Isolated places over Higher reaches of J&K.” (GNS)