Bone-chilling cold, intense fog tightens grip over J&K

As bone-chilling cold and intense fog tightened its grip over Kashmir, all the flights operating from Srinagar airport were cancelled on Sunday with vehicles on roads seen moving with their headlights on throughout the day.

This was the fourth consecutive day when the air traffic at Srinagar airport got disrupted due to the fog.

On Saturday too, no flight could operate from the airport. Though on previous days, the fog got cleared by forenoon, on Sunday, there was no respite throughout the day.

An official at the airport told DH that all flights were cancelled on Sunday due to poor runway visibility.

“No flight could land or take-off at Srinagar airport for the second consecutive day due to which hundreds of passengers couldn’t travel to their respective destinations,” he said.

Flight operations are disrupted at Srinagar airport every winter with visibility often dropping below 500 meters in December and January which is much below than the standard figure.

The poor visibility on the runway can only be overcome by an upgraded landing facility, officials say.

A dense canopy of fog throughout the day across Kashmir affected normal life.

MeT officials said that the minimum temperature here would likely go further down in the coming days till the Valley would receive another wet spell from December 11.

“There is a possibility of rain and snow across Kashmir from December 11 to December 13. According to the forecast, the main activity would likely occur on December 12,” Donam Lotus Director of local MeT office said.

He said that foggy conditions may improve slightly from Monday but “we expect a significant improvement in foggy conditions on Tuesday and from December 11, the fog will diminish.”

The night temperature plummeted in most places in Jammu and Kashmir with Srinagar recording the coldest night of the season at minus 3.6 degrees Celsius.