Srinagar shivers at minus 5.6 degrees

With cold wave continuing to tighten its grip in Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar recorded season’s coldest night at minus 5.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday.

A MeT department official said mercury plummeted to minus 5.6 degrees Celsius in Srinagar against minus 4.2 degrees previous night. The lowest ever recorded in December in Srinagar has been minus 12.6 degrees on December 13, 1964.

Pahalgam health resort in south Kashmir, which serves as a base camp during Annual Amarnath yatra, and ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir were the coldest recorded places in the Valley as minimum temperature at both the places settled at minus 9.5 degrees Celsius, he said.

Leh town in the frontier region of Ladakh continues to be the coldest place in the state with the mercury dipping to chilling minus 15.6 degrees Celsius last night while neighbouring Kargil town recorded a low of minus 9.5 degrees Celsius, the official said.

The MeT Department has predicted further fall in night temperature during the next few days. The bone-chilling cold led to freezing of water taps and fringes of many water bodies including the famous Dal Lake here.