Rains, snowfall recharge water bodies, weather to improve today

Srinagar, Mar 15: Intermittent rainfall and snow continued to lash Kashmir for the fourth straight day on Saturday. The ongoing wet spell has recharged the water bodies to a large extent with the level in river Jhelum increasing to above 6 feet compared to -1.01 last month.
According to the details available, Shopian upper reaches received heavy snowfall, while Pulwama and other districts in south Kashmir witnessed moderate snowfall since Saturday morning.
The other higher reaches, including Gulmarg, a famous ski-resort, and Sonamarg also received snowfall for the fourth running day today. However, Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, and other areas, received rainfall throughout the day.
As per the details, Sadhna Top, Razdan top received a snowfall of 3 feet, Zojila top and Sinthan top received 2.5 feet, Peer ki Gali, Sonamarg and Z Gali received 2 feet while Gulmarg and Doodhpatri received 1 feet snowfall each.
Notably, the Meteorological department (MeT) had issued a yellow alert for three days from March 13 to March 15. The wet spell has ended the rainfall deficiency as well.
The river Jhelum at Sangam station was flowing at above 6 feet, which otherwise was flowing at -1.01 ft last month due to the less rainfall for the three straight months from December to February.
According to the details, the water level at Ram Munshi Bagh was above 5 ft at 6:00 PM while Asham was flowing at 2.40 ft today.
The nallahs were also flowing close to the warning level at multiple places with official data revealing that Vaishow Nallah in Khudwani was flowing at 1591.121m, which was 3m below the warning level.
Similarly, the other streams also recorded the rise in the water level amidst the intermittent moderate rainfall.
Moreover, the weatherman predicted intermittent brief spells of light rain and snow at few places towards Sunday morning & improvement towards afternoon.
Director MeT, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad said that generally dry weather is expected from March 17 to 25.
Moreover, the MeT issued an advisory, advising the travellers, tourists and transporters to follow administration and traffic advisory.
Farmers have been advised to suspend farm operations till March 16. The advisory also appealed to people to avoid visiting sloppy & avalanche prone areas and said that landslides, mudslides and shooting stones are expected at vulnerable spots. (KNO)