J&K: Fresh snowfall blocks highway, flights cancelled

Fresh snowfall on Wednesday disrupted normal life in Kashmir as the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed for vehicular traffic and flight operations were cancelled.

The 264-km highway, the only road link between Kashmir and the rest of the country, was closed due to fresh snowfall in the Banihal sector, an official said. Due to poor visibility and snowfall, flights at Srinagar Airport were also cancelled.

“Due to bad weather/ Heavy snowfall, all flights have been cancelled (sic),” Srinagar Airport authorities said on Twitter.

Fresh snowfall began in the morning across the valley including Srinagar, breaking the intense cold wave conditions that had prevailed due to the cloud cover. Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of minus 2.1 degrees Celsius against previous night's minus 12 degrees, a MeT official said.

He said the mercury in south Kashmir's hill resort Pahalgam, which also serves as a base camp during the annual Amarnath yatra, settled at a low of minus 4.2 while north Kashmir's ski-resort Gulmarg registered a low of minus 6 degrees Celsius and was the coldest recorded place in the Valley.

Kashmir is currently under the grip of 'Chillai-Kalan' – the harsh 40-day period of winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum, and the temperature drops considerably.