Gulmarg records bone-chilling minus 11.5 degree Celsius

Kashmir and Ladakh regions are under a grip of intense cold wave with temperatures falling several notches below normal on Saturday and ski-resort Gulmarg recording bone-chilling minus 11.5 degree Celsius.

A MeT Department official said famous ski-tourist resort in north Kashmir, Gulmarg, registered a freezing -11.5 degree Celsius, more than six degrees below the average for this time of the year. Coldest December night recorded in Gulmarg during the past decade was -12.4 degrees Celsius in 2015.

The overnight minimum temperature in Pahalgam, a tourist resort in south Kashmir which also serves as a base camp during annual Amarnath yatra, was minus 9.6 degrees Celsius against previous night’s minus 9.7 degrees. At minus 9.7 degrees on Friday, the hill resort witnessed the lowest in more than a decade.

Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius which was the coldest night of the season, he said. Leh in Ladakh region recorded minimum temperature of minus 13.6 degree Celsius while in neighbouring Kargil town mercury plummeted to minus 10.2 degrees. At minus 19.0 degrees, Drass town in Kargil district was the coldest recorded place in the state, according to the official.

The Kashmir valley is still in the early phase of winter as the core period of winter, which lasts 40 days and is known as “chillai kalan” in local parlance, will begin next week. The MeT Department has predicted dry weather in the week ahead due to which minimum temperatures will drop further.