Srinagar, Jan 13: Night temperature plummeted all across the Kashmir valley triggering severe cold weather conditions with Srinagar recording a low of -5.1°C on Monday, officials said.
The Srinagar Meteorological Center has forecast dry weather through January 21 with the possibility of light snowfall over the remote higher elevations of Jammu and Kashmir between January 15 and January 16.
In Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, the lowest temperature recorded on Sunday and Monday was -5.1°C, down from -3.0°C the night before. According to the Met office, it was 3.1°C colder than the seasonal average for this time of year.
Pahalgam continued to be the coldest location in the Kashmir Valley, with a minimum temperature of -8.4°C on Monday, down from -6.2°C on
Sunday. This was 2.5°C colder than usual for the Anantnag district of south Kashmir, a popular tourist destination at the time.
The minimum temperature at the ski resort of Gulmarg also dropped significantly, reaching -6.5°C compared to -5.6°C the day before. This was 1.3°C warmer than average for the Baramulla area of north Kashmir, which is a popular tourist destination.
When compared to Sunday’s low of -6.5°C, the charming Sonamarg in the Ganderbal region of central Kashmir plummeted to -9.8°C.
The temperature in Kupwara dropped to -5.5°C from -4.0°C the night before, which was 3.0°C colder than average for the north Kashmir frontier area at this time of year.
According to the MeT office, Kokernag in south Kashmir saw a slight improvement on Monday, recording -3.4°C compared to -3.9°C on Saturday, and the Qazigund dropped to a low of -6.4°C compared to -4.0°C, which was 3.4°C below normal for the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, which serves as the gateway to Kashmir, during that time.
