At -2.3 degrees Celsius, Srinagar records season’s coldest night

As a cold wave further tightened its grip over Kashmir on Tuesday, Srinagar witnessed the coldest night of the season with mercury plummeting to minus 2.3 degree Celsius.

Kashmir has been experiencing sub-zero temperatures for the past few nights and in most places, the mercury has remained two to three notches below normal for this part of the season, a MeT Department official said.

The minimum temperature in Pahalgam hill resort in south Kashmir, which serves as a base camp during annual Amarnath yatra, settled at minus 4.4 degrees Celsius and was the coldest recorded place in the Valley, he said. In the ski resort of north Kashmir’s Gulmarg, the minimum night temperature settled at minus 0.6 degrees Celsius.

Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of minus 2.3 degrees Celsius last night - down from minus 1.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday night while mercury in Qazigund town of south Kashmir, also called the gateway to the Valley, settled at minus 2.2 degrees.

In Leh, Ladakh region, mercury settled at minus 11.5 degrees Celsius while neighbouring Kargil town recorded a low of minus 6.5 degrees Celsius, he added.

The wintry conditions in Kashmir this year have set in much ahead of the beginning of the extremely harsh weather conditions that usually start around the third week of December. 'Chillai Kalan', the 40-day period of harshest winter in Kashmir, begins on December 21 and ends on January 30.

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The Meteorological Department has predicted that there will be mainly dry weather till the end of this month due to which temperatures can plummet further.