JOIN USMost areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh received snowfall and rains on Tuesday, forcing closure of some major road links even as temperatures rose in other parts of north India.
In the national capital, people got some relief from cold wave conditions with the minimum temperature settling at 13.6 degrees Celsius, five notches above normal. The maximum temperature was 23.1 degrees Celsius, a notch above normal.
Life remained disrupted across Kashmir on the third consecutive day as there was intermittent snowfall on Tuesday, affecting air traffic.
The strategic Srinagar-Jammu highway, the only surface link between Kashmir and the rest of the country, remained closed for vehicular traffic in the wake of fresh snowfall at Jawahar Tunnel and Patnitop areas.
Officials said flights operating from Srinagar International Airport were also delayed on Tuesday, due to the bad weather. “Several flights had to be cancelled as snow had accumulated on the runway,” they said. The MeT Department has warned of heavy snowfall in some areas of the state in the next 24 hours.
An official said more than two feet of snow has accumulated in the ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir in last two days. The place recorded a minimum temperature of minus 5.2, a degree down from the previous night.
Srinagar recorded more than 4 cm of fresh snow in the last 24 hours while the mercury settled at a low of 0.6 degree Celsius, up by over a degree from previous night’s minus 1.0 degree Celsius, he said.
Pahalgam tourist resort in south Kashmir recorded 20 cm of fresh snow and the temperature settled at a low of minus 0.8 degree Celsius.
Meanwhile, the fresh snowfall in Srinagar led to inundation of some vital areas including Regal Chowk, Residency Road and Lal Chowk which were hit in last year’s deluge.