Kashmir Valley, Ladakh continue to reel under intense cold

Kashmir valley and Ladakh region continues to reel under intense cold wave as minimum temperatures remain below the freezing point.

An official at MeT Department said mercury at south Kashmir's famous hill resort Pahalgam, which serves as one of the base camps during the annual Amarnath yatra, settled at bone chilling minus 10.9 degrees Celsius 10.9 degrees Celsius - down five degrees from a night earlier. Pahalgam was the coldest recorded place in the Valley.

The famous ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir went slightly up to settle at 10.4 degrees Celsius from the previous night's minus 11 degrees, he said.

Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of minus 0.6 degrees Celsius – half a degree down from the previous night while mercury in Qazigund town of south Kashmir, also called the gateway to the Valley, settled at minus 0.7 degrees.

The minimum in Kupwara, a frontier district in north Kashmir, settled at minus 1.3 degrees Celsius, the officials said.

Kargil in the frontier region of Ladakh was the coldest recorded place in the region with the night temperature dropping to bone chilling minus 18.5 degrees Celsius, he said. The minimum temperature in neighbouring Leh town settled at minus 15.4 degrees Celsius.

Kashmir is in the middle of ‘Chillai-Kalan’, the 40-day winter period which commenced on December 21 and ends on January 30. The period is considered the harshest of the winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum.

The MeT office has forecast dry weather across Jammu and Kashmir till January 18 due to which there are chances of further drop in temperatures. Fresh Western Disturbances are likely to affect J&K from January 19 to 25 and there is forecast of moderate rain or snow on January 23 and 24.