Srinagar: It has been snowing in all over Kashmir Valley even as overnight temperatures rose across Valley, meteorological department said here on Saturday. The Srinagar-Jammu highway was open for one-way traffic. The traffic on the highway, only surface link connecting Kashmir with the rest of the world, was from Jammu to Srinagar. “The highway is open for one-way traffic and today the movement of traffic is from Jammu to Srinagar,” a traffic department official stationed at the control room here said.
A meteorological department official said the mercury increased in Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, from minus 1 degrees Celsius on previous night to minus 0.8 degree Celsius.
The famous hill resort of Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 0.9 Degrees Celsius last night against minus 3.0 degrees Celsius on previous night.
The MeT official said that the mercury at the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir settled at minus 2.5 degrees Celsius last night as against minus 7.5 degrees Celsius on the previous night.
Leh town recorded minus 11.9 degrees Celsius, Kargil minus 16.8 and Drass minus 10.3 as the night’s lowest temperatures.
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).
The meteorological department has forecast widespread rain and snow across the state from today its Director Sonam Lotus said that the downpour would not be as heavy as that of last week.
