Intermittent rain lashes plains, light snow in upper reaches in Kashmir
The weather woes continued for the second successive day on Tuesday even as intermittent rain lashed plains while upper reaches, including border towns of Keran, Karnah and Machil in north Kashmir, received light snowfall.
Meanwhile, the night temperature improved further and settled several degrees above normal across Kashmir valley, where weather is expected to improve from Thursday onwards.
A Met department spokesperson told UNI that moderate rain and thundershowers would occur at most places in the valley during the next 48 hours under the influence of a Western Disturbance (WD), which is active in the region. ‘The system is likely to cause heavy rain and snow mainly in the upper reaches of Kashmir, including world famous ski resort of Gulmarg, tourist resort of Sonmarg, Baramulla, Gurez and Tulail valley in Bandipora, Karnah sector in Kupwara, Shopian, Qazigund-Banihal axis, Pirpanjal range of Jammu,” he said.
He said the weather has result in temporary disruption of surface traffic on Kashmir highway, and Sadhna top. Traffic was on Tuesday suspended on the national highway, the only all weather road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, due to landslides triggered by rain.
After witnessing light rain overnight, people woke up to a chilly and cloudy Tuesday morning in the summer capital, Srinagar. The weather remained chilly throughout the day due to overcast conditions and intermittent rain in the city, where people were seen wearing warm clothes, including jackets and sweaters, to evade chilly weather conditions. But, the mercury in the city during the night improved over a degree from Monday and settled at 8.8 degree, which is 2 degree above normal. The maximum temperature in the city remained below normal due to overcast conditions and intermittent rain.
He said that light to moderate rain would occur during the next 24 hours in Srinagar, where the maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 17 degree and 9 degree, respectively.
World famous ski resort of Gulmarg, which is covered under several feet of snow, received moderate to heavy intermittent rain since last night though the night temperature witnessed some improvement. Against minus 0.6 degree recorded on Monday, the night temperature in the ski resort settled at 0.8 degree, which is a degree above normal. “It was raining heavily in Gulmarg, which witnessed heavy influx of tourists this winter after zero business in the last two years due to COVID-19 lockdown and unrest post August 5, 2019,” a hotelier told UNI.
Intermittent rain continued for the second successive day at world famous health resort of Pahalgam, about 100 km from here in south Kashmir. But, the night temperature in the resort improved about a degree from Monday and settled at 5.9 degree, which is about 4 degree below normal.
The mercury at Qazigund, gateway to the valley, Kupwara in north Kashmir and tourist resort of Kokernag improved and settled at 8 degree, 6.4 degree and 6.8 degree, respectively.
UNI
