JOIN USSrinagar city witnessed the coldest night of the season on Monday with the mercury plunging to 4.2 degrees Celsius below the freezing point and parts of the famous Dal Lake freezing.
A Met Department official said Dal Lake and other water bodies in the Valley were partially frozen due to intense cold wave conditions.
"The minimum temperature recorded in Srinagar today (Monday) was minus 4.2 degrees. The lowest ever recorded in December has been minus 12.6 degrees on Dec 13, 1964," he said.
The lake was completely frozen twice in the last 50 years - in 1986 and 1964. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Kashmir was minus 14.4 degrees Celsius on January 31, 1893.
Gulmarg in north Kashmir remained the coldest recorded place in the Valley at minus 7.2 degrees Celsius minimum temperature, while Pahalgam in south recorded a low of minus 6.5 degree Celsius, he said.
Leh and Kargil recorded minus 8.1 and minus 7.2 degrees Celsius, respectively.