Picture Zargar Zahoor
Srinagar, Jan 31: Mainly dry and foggy weather has been forecast till February 4 and light rain and snowfall thereafter for one week in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the weather department has ruled out the possibility of any major snowfall in the next ten days.
“From February 1 to 4, mainly dry weather is expected but fog is likely to develop in Jammu & Kashmir (60% chance),” a meteorological department official here said.
For the subsequent one week, he said, light rain and snowfall is expected at isolated places.
“There is no major snowfall for the next 10 days,” he said.
In last 24 till 0830 hours today, the MeT department official said that Srinagar received 6.29 inches of snow, Qazigund 9.8 inches, Pahalgam 10.56 inches, Kupwara 7.87 inches, Kokernag 7.1 inches and Gulmarg 19.7 inches, Banihal 1.37 inches, Batote 0.4 inches and Bhaderwah 0.8 inches.
Regarding minimum temperature, he said, Srinagar recorded a low of 0.0°C against minus 0.2°C on the previous night. Today’s minimum temperature, he said, was above normal by 0.7°C for the summer capital.
Qazigund, he said, recorded a low of minus 0.4°C against minus 0.1°C on the previous night and it was 1.7°C above normal for the gateway town of Kashmir.
Pahalgam, he said, recorded a low of minus 4.7°C against minus 1.4°C on the previous night and it was 1.4°C above normal for the famous tourist resort in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
Kokernag recorded a low of minus 0.8°C, the same as on the previous night and it was 1.6°C above normal for the place, the officials said.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 8.4°C against minus 4.6°C on the previous night and it was 0.8°C below normal for the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, he said.
In Kupwara town, he said, the mercury settled at minus 0.8°C against minus 0.4°C on the previous night and it was above 1.5°C above normal for the north Kashmir area.
Jammu received 26.6mm of rain during the 24 hours and recorded a low of 7.1°C against 10.4°C on the previous night. It was 1.3°C below normal for J&K’s winter capital, he said.
Banihal, he said, had 39.8mm of rain during the time and recorded a low of minus 0.4°C (below normal by 1.2°C); Batote 52.1mm of rain and recorded a low of minus 0.5°C (below normal by 2.6°C); Katra received 49.4mm of rain and recorded a low of 6.1°C (0.9°C below normal) while Bhadarwah received 27.8mm of rain during the time and recorded minimum temperature of 0.2°C (0.8°C above normal).
Ladakh’s Leh and Kargil recorded a low of minus 8.0°C and minus 10.2°C respectively, the official said.
While Chillai-Kalan, the 40-day long harsh winter period that started on December 21 has ended, Kashmir is under the grip of a 20-day-long period called ‘Chillai-Khurd’. It will be followed by a 10-day-long period ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold) which is from February 20 to March 1.
