Cold wave further tightened its grip in Kashmir on Saturday as the minimum temperatures plummeted to the season’s lowest in several places as Srinagar recorded a bone chilling minus 6.8 degrees Celsius.
Frosty mornings and slippery condition of roads caused problems to pedestrians and motorists in Srinagar city and elsewhere.
A Met department official said minimum temperature in Srinagar dipped to minus 6.8 degrees Celsius as compared to Friday night’s minus 6.3 degrees.
This was the season’s coldest night in the city.
Leh town in frontier Ladakh region witnessed bone chilling minus 17 degrees Celsius minimum temperature as against Friday night’s minus 14 degrees, he said. Leh continues to remain the coldest recorded place in the state. The minimum temperature in south Kashmir’s tourist resort of Pahalgam, which serves as a base camp during the annual Amarnath yatra, was minus 12.2 degrees Celsius, while in north Kashmir’s ski resort of Gulmarg, the mercury settled at minus 14.4 degrees Celsius, the official said.
Reports said Dal Lake and other water bodies around Srinagar city and elsewhere froze partially due to steep dip in temperatures.
The drinking water taps and supply pipes also froze at many places during the night, leading to water shortage in several areas, they said.
With the 40-day period of harshest winter, locally known as the Chilla Kalan, at its peak, the weather office has predicted further dip in temperatures. It has also forecast rain and snowfall on January 15 and 16.
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