Srinagar: Amid fresh snowfall, there has been drop in mercury across the Kashmir Valley on Saturday.
A meteorological department official here said the day temperature dropped to 4.1 degree Celsius in Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, and there was snowfall of 2 mm from 830 hours to 1730 hours. He said night temperature rose and settled at minus 0.8 degree Celsius in the capital city last night.
The official said Qazigund the gateway town to the Valley recorded a maximum of 3.0 degrees Celsius (below 3 degrees from normal) and low of minus 0.8 degrees Celsius, while the nearby Kokernag registered a low of minus 2.4 and maximum of 2.7 degrees Celsius.
The night temperature in Pahalgam, also in south Kashmir, settled at a low of minus 7.1 degrees Celsius while it had a maximum of 1.2 degrees Celsius, the official said.
The ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded the minimum temperature of minus 3.3 degrees Celsius while as day temperature dropped to minus 3.3 degrees Celsius, he said.
Kupwara in north Kashmir recorded a low of 0.2 degrees Celsius while it had a maximum of 1.8 degrees Celsius, he said.
Regarding the forecast for next 24 hours, the weatherman said that there was the possibility of light to moderate rain and snow at most places over the state with heavy snow at isolated places.
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).
