Srinagar freezes at minus 6 degrees Celsius

Mercury in Kashmir Valley plummeted further on Sunday as Srinagar recorded season's coldest night at minus 6 degrees Celsius.

A MeT department official said minimum temperature in Srinagar dipped to minus 6 degrees Celsius as compared to previous night's minus 1.2 degrees. This was the season's lowest temperature in Srinagar which had earlier recorded a low of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius on December 31. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Kashmir was minus 14.4 degrees Celsius on January 31, 1893.

The subzero temperature has resulted in partial freezing of famous Dal Lake and other water bodies in the city. The Dal lake was completely frozen twice in the last 53 years - in 1986 and 1964. In 1964, a jeep had crossed on the frozen surface ofthe lake from one to another end. In 1986 people were playing ice hockey and cricket besides taking photograph on the frozen surface.

Kargil town in frontier Ladakh region witnessed bone chilling minus 18.8 degrees Celsius, while mercury in neighbouring Leh town plummeted to minus 16.8 degrees, he said.  

The minimum temperature in south Kashmir's tourist resort of Pahalgam, which serves as a base camp during annual Amarnath yatra, was minus 8.9 degrees Celsius while in north Kashmir's ski resort of Gulmarg at minus 9.2 degrees Celsius, the official said. Gulmarg was the coldest recorded place in the Valley.

With 40-day period of harshest winter, locally known as the 'Chilla Kalan', in progress, the weather office has predicted further dip in the temperatures. "Present weather conditions are likely to continue for the next few days across Jammu and Kashmir and a further fall in night temperatures would occur during this period," the official said.