Kashmir receives fresh spell of snow

MeT issues ‘yellow alert’ for Jan 5, 6

Srinagar: Kashmir Valley experienced another spell of fresh snowfall overnight, with more expected in the coming days.
Officials have indicated that the most significant weather activity is likely to occur over the weekend.
Srinagar and other key areas of the Kashmir Valley received light to moderate snowfall during the night between Wednesday and Thursday, causing disruptions to normal activities. Reports also suggest that snowfall is still ongoing in several northern regions of Kashmir.
A report from the frontier border district of Kupwara in north Kashmir said the moderate snowfall has closed major roads of the district disrupting the normal activities. The roads near the Line of Control (LoC) including Kernah, Keran, Nowgam, Jumgund and Bungus valley connecting the district headquarters were closed due to snow accumulation. The authorities have geared up its men and machinery to clear the roads off snow.
“The current Western Disturbance (WD) is expected to intensify during the afternoon, bringing heavy snowfall to the higher reaches of North Kashmir, higher reaches of Ganderbal district, the Sonamarg-Pahalgam axis, and the Zojila-Drass-Minimarg axis”, an independent weather forecaster Faizan Arif said.
The Meteorological Centre in Srinagar said a moderate to strong WD is likely to bring light to moderate rain in plains of Jammu and Snow at most places of Jammu and Kashmir with peak activity during January 4 night to January 5 late night. The weather is likely to improve from January 6 late afternoon and remain dry till January 10.
The MeT office has also issued an advisory stating that in view of snowfall, sub- freezing temperature and icy conditions over roads including plains/higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir, Tourists/travellers/Transporters are advised to follow Admin/Traffic advisory.
There is no let-up in relentless cold weather conditions in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley that have frozen major water bodies disrupting normal life.
The minimum temperature recorded during the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday witnessed a significant fall but stayed below freezing point across the Kashmir valley. At Srinagar it was recorded at -2.6°C against the -4.4°C the previous night. This was 0.2°C below average for the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir during the period.
Gulmarg remained the coldest place of the valley and even witnessed a slight improvement by a few notches and recorded at-8.6°C on Thursday against the -8.8°C a day ago. This was 1.9°C below the average for the famous ski resort of north Kashmir during this period of the season.
The night temperature improved at Pahalgam and recorded a low of -4.0°C against the -7.6°C on Wednesday. This was 1.9°C above normal for the tourist spot in south Kashmir’s Anan tnag.
Kokernag had stayed at -5.8°C for the second consecutive day on Thursday and it was 2.5°C below normal for the picnic spot of south Kashmir.
The night temperature at Qazigund also rose and recorded -5.2°C against -6.0°C recorded the previous night. This was 2.2°C below normal for the gateway to Kashmir on Srinagar-Jammu National highway in South Kashmir.
The frontier Kashmir district of Kupwara plunged to -1.4°C against the-0.3°C a day ago and this was 2.3°C above normal for the place during this period of the season, the MeT office said.
Meanwhile, the he local Meteorological department here has issued a ‘yellow alert’ for January 5 and January 6, saying that heavy rain and snowfall is expected at the isolated places during the period.
According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the MeT department has issued an alert, stating that there is a possibility of heavy rain and snowfall at the isolated places. “The disruption of traffic on higher reaches snow avalanches, landslides and shooting stones are expected on January 5 and 6,” the MeT has said.