Owais Gul
Srinagar, May 8: Amid fresh snowfall at several places in the Valley, Jammu and Kashmir has continued to receive intermittent rainfall for the last few days, bringing down the mercury in the Union Territory while a few stations including Qazigund and Kokernag in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district and Banihal in Jammu division recorded a massive precipitation in the last 24 hours.
According to the data available, the twin stations in south Kashmir including Qazigund and Kokernag witnessed highest rainfall in the last 24 hours after the gap of 13 years where 49.8 mm and 62.2 mm rainfall was recorded respectively.
The data shared by the Meteorological department (MeT) here, reveals that Banihal in Jammu division has recorded a rainfall of 40.2 mm in the last 24 hours after a gap of 10 years.
As per the data, J&K has received the highest-ever 24-hour rainfall of 66.2 mm in the month of May on 23rd in the year 1987.
Nonetheless, the data shows that the average rainfall of 16.8 mm was recorded in Jammu & Kashmir in the last 24 hours.
The data shows that the highest rainfall of 88.0 mm in Qazigund was recorded on May 23, 1965, which is nearly 50 per cent lower than the last 24 hours of rainfall recorded at the station.
In Kokernag, the highest rainfall of 67.7 mm was recorded on May 29, 2010, which is a few mm lower than the last 24 hour rainfall recorded at the station.
At Banihal station, the highest-ever rainfall of 24 hours was recorded on May 23, 1965 at 101.6 mm, which is nearly 60 per cent less than the last 24 hours rainfall.
However, Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, has recorded a rainfall of 1.6 mm in the last 24 hours till 08:30 AM while Pahalgam in South Kashmir has recorded a rainfall of 15.1 mm, the official data reveals.
As per the data, Gulmarg recorded a rainfall of 10.8 mm in the last 24 hours while Bataote in Jammu division has recorded a rainfall of 20.3 mm.
Deputy Director, MeT, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad when contacted said that there was nothing new in the frequent wet spell in the month of May. “The precipitation in the month of May has not been witnessed in the past couple of years.That doesn’t mean that the rainfall during the ensuing month is unusual,” he said.
Last year in the month of May, Jammu & Kashmir as per the data has recorded a rainfall of 124.5 mm while the highest with 28.6 mm rainfall was recorded on May 05.
Moreover, some of the areas in Kashmir including higher reaches of Kulgam, Tulail Gurez, Gulmarg and others experienced fresh snowfall since Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, Director MeT, Sonum Lotus said that there would be a significant improvement in the weather conditions from tomorrow, but stated that as per the forecast the weather would remain mainly dry, but the rains and thunderstorm in the late afternoon or evening cannot be ruled out at some places.
From May 10-15, the weather would remain mainly dry while the temperature would also go up as the warmer days are expected from May 10 onwards, he said.
Besides, the day temperature has also plummeted in J&K parts while an Independent Weather Forecaster, Faizan Arif Keng said that February-like weather conditions were witnessed in parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
In Srinagar, he said that the day temperature settled at 13.6 degree Celsius, which is 10.0 degree Celsius below normal, adding that the mercury settled at 2.2 degree Celsius in Gulmarg, which is 12.0 degree Celsius below normal while Pahalgam recorded a maximum temperature of 8.1 degree Celsius, which is 12.1 degree Celsius below normal.
Many other stations like Qazigund, Kokernag, Kupwara, Jammu, Banihal, Batote, Bhaderwah and Katra also recorded below normal temperature today.
