JOIN USAt minus 8.4 degrees Celsius, Srinagar records coldest night in 30 years
As Kashmir continues to reel under a severe cold wave, Srinagar recorded bone-chilling minus 8.4 degrees Celsius last night, making it the coldest temperature being recorded in the last three decades.
On Wednesday, Srinagar had recorded a low of minus 7.8 degrees Celsius.
A Met Department official said Srinagar had recorded minus 8.3 degrees Celsius in 1995 while the temperature had fallen to minus 11.3 degrees Celsius in 1991. Due to the unprecedented dip in night temperatures in the Valley lately, Dal Lake in Srinagar and other water bodies have frozen completely.
Reports said the Dal Lake wore a festive look as people from all corners of the Valley cherished walking over the frozen crest which some people say was very thick. Authorities had to advise people not to walk on the frozen surface of water bodies, especially the Dal Lake, underlining that it could be dangerous.
The freezing of the Dal Lake also refreshes memories of times when the former prime minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Bakshi Ghulam Muhammad, drove his jeep on the frozen lake almost six decades ago. It is said that Bakshi drove the jeep for about 20 minutes near the Hazratbal coast of the Lake, the flagship of Kashmir’s tourism.
Besides Srinagar, the minimum temperatures continued far below than the normal in other parts of the Valley, settling at minus 11.1 degrees Celsius in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam hill resort while Gulmarg skiing resort in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 7 degrees Celsius.
Kashmir is in the middle of ‘Chillai-Kalan’, the harshest 40-day winter period which commences on December 21 and ends on January 30. Chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum during this period.
In the first week of January, Kashmir received heavy snowfall, disrupting normal life. The weatherman has forecast “mainly dry weather” in the next 24 hours and “no significant change till January 20.”