Srinagar: Two days after season’s major snowfall, mercury plummeted across the Kashmir Valley with Pahalgam recording coldest with minus 12.5 Degrees Celsius, colder than Leh.
A meteorological department official here told INS that the minimum temperature in this summer capital of the state settled at minus 4.0 degree Celsius against minus 1.2 degree Celsius on previous night.
The night temperature in Pahalgam dropped to minus 12.5 degree Celsius, the official said. The low temperature fell by nearly five degrees Celsius in the hill resort in south Kashmir from previous night’s minus 7.9 Degrees Celsius.
Qazigund, the gate town of Kashmir, saw a low of minus 5.3 degree Celsius as against minus 0.6 degree Celsius on previous night while Kokernag, also in south Kashmir, recorded a minimum of minus 4.7 degree Celsius against minus 2.2 degrees Celsius on last night.
He said that the mercury at the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir plunged to minus 11.0 degrees Celsius as against minus 9.0 degrees Celsius on the previous night.
Kupwara town in north Kashmir registered a low of minus 5.9 degree Celsius last night, down from the previous night’s 4.2 degrees Celsius, the official said.
Kargil, in Ladakh region, was the coldest recorded place in the state as the mercury settled at a low of minus 17.6 degree Celsius. The night temperature in Leh town went down to minus 11.8 degrees Celsius, down from minus 10.3 degrees Celsius on previous night.
Kashmir is currently under the grip of ‘Chillai-Kalan’ the 40-day harshest period of winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum and the temperature drops considerably.
‘Chillai-Kalan’ ends on January 31, but the cold wave continues even after that in Kashmir.
The 40-day period is followed by a 20-day long ‘Chillai-Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day long ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold).
