Summer makes its presence felt in Valley

With the mercury level rising, summer has made its presence felt in Kashmir again.
The maximum temperature touched 32 degree Celsius on Saturday, while the minimum temperature was 15 degree Celsius.

“The valley is experiencing a hot summer. We are expecting the maximum temperatures to rise further for next three days when showers are likely to bring down the temperatures,” a Met official here said.

Tourists undeterred

However, for tourists who are visiting the valley in thousands, the rising temperature doesn’t matter.

“We were experiencing 45 degree Celsius temperature in Delhi and as soon we landed in Srinagar, we heaved a sigh of relief,” said Deepika, a tourist from New Delhi who has come here with her family.

“It is great weather. The days are a bit hot, but mornings and evenings are refreshing and cool,” she added.

Movement affected

Due to rising temperature, the movement of local people during late afternoon hours has been affected to some extent.

“Going by the practice in the past, the elderly persons may avoid moving outside during the afternoon due to hot weather,” said Abdul Ahad, a shopkeeper.

He said that in summer the customers usually prefer morning and evening hours for shopping.

“The number of customers drops during afternoon hours due to hot weather conditions,” he added.

The maximum ever temperature recorded here so far is 37.8 degrees in July 1978.
Between 2000 and 2010 the highest recorded here was 36.5 degrees in 2005 while for the rest of the years it hovered between 32 and 33 degrees Celsius.