Amid forecasts of moderate snowfall from Wednesday, a sharp dip in the night temperature was recorded across Kashmir Valley on Tuesday, officials said.
The Meteorological Centre in Srinagar said that two back-to-back Western Disturbances (WD) are expected to affect Jammu and Kashmir starting from January 1. According to the forecast, a feeble WD is likely to bring light snowfall to scattered areas of Jammu and Kashmir on January 1 and 2, with conditions improving thereafter.
A moderate WD will strike during January 3 to 6 and can cause light to moderate rain over the plains of Jammu and snow at many places of Jammu and Kashmir with the peak activity between January 4 and 5, the MeT office said adding that there is a possibility of heavy snow at isolated higher reaches during the period.
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 icy cold weather conditions in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley that have frozen major water bodies disrupting normal life.
“The cold wave conditions will continue to prevail over the Kashmir valley till end of the year”, the MeT office said.
The minimum temperature recorded during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday at Srinagar witnessed a sharp drop and recorded at -3.5°C against the -0.9°C the previous night. This was 0.9°C below average for the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir during the period.
The ski resort of Gulmarg remained the coldest place with the night temperature further plummeting on Tuesday and recorded at -11.5°C against the -10.0 a day ago. This was 5.6°C below the average for the valley of meadows in north Kashmir during this period of the season.
There was a slight improvement in night temperature at the tourist spot of Pahalgam recorded a low of -8.4°C against the -9.2°C the previous night and this was 3.2°C below normal for the valley of shepherds in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Tuesday.
The Picnic spot of Kokernag further plunged to a low of -5.6°C on Tuesday against the -2.4°C a day ago and it was 2.9°C below normal for the south Kashmir destination.
Qazigund also witnessed a significant drop and recorded at -7.5°C on Tuesday against the -2.8°C on Monday. This was 4.8°C below normal for the gateway to Kashmir on Srinagar-Jammu National highway in South Kashmir.
The night temperature at the frontier Kashmir district of Kupwara in north Kashmir stayed at 0.1°C for the second consecutive day on Tuesday and this was 3.1°C above normal for the border district during this period of the season, the MeT office said.
