Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Dec 22: Severe cold wave continued to grip northern region, showing sharp fall in Jammu’s day temperature while the dense fog and cloudy weather conditions disrupted air and train traffic in the region today.
Jammu’s day temperature has gone about 8.4 degree below normal, while Srinagar’s day temperature has also indicated a fall of nearly 1.2 degree Celsius today as compared to yesterday. The spine chilling and foggy weather conditions have forced the people to stay indoors and restricted their free movement outside.
While most of the flights operating between New Delhi- Jammu, Mumbai-Jammu were delayed by two and half to half hours, no flight could land at the Jammu airport before 12.30 pm due to poor visibility and foggy weather. One flight (Indigo) could not operate between Jammu and Delhi and was cancelled today. The helicopter service between Katra base camp and Sanji Chhat was also resumed a bit late due to bad weather early morning, however, the service continued later as weather improved at Mata Vaishnodevi.
Dr B C Sharma Chief Scientist from SKUAST Jammu when contacted said that Jammu’s day temperature was 12.6 degree Celsius today. The normal day temperature of the Jammu is given as 21 degree C which indicates that there is sharp fall of 8.4 degree C below normal in Jammu’s temperature. The other border districts of Samba and Kathua have also shown steep fall in temperature as fog and cloudy weather continue to engulf the plain areas of the region.
A Met office spokesman said that Srinagar recorded minimum temperature of -1.3 degree Celsius and maximum 6.9 degree C today. The day temperature has indicated a fall of nearly one degree Celsius. Jammu has recorded minimum temperature of 7.1 degree C and maximum 12.6 degree C at Chatha observatory of the city.
Kargil remained the coldest town with minimum temperature of -9.2 degree C and maximum -0.6 degree C whereas, Leh recorded minimum temperature of -8.8 degree C and maximum temperature of 3.5 degree Celsius.
The holy town of Katra Mata Vaishnodevi has recorded minimum temperature of 7.7 degree C and maximum 15.0 degree C. Bhaderwah town of Jammu region recorded day temperature of 12.1 degree Celsius and 3.8 degree night temperature. In Banihal town, the minimum temperature was 1.5 degree Celsius and maximum 12.2 degree Celsius today. Batote recorded the maximum temperature of 12.5 degree C and minimum 5.7 degree C.
Giving weather forecast, the Met spokesman further said that light to moderate rain/ snow would occur at few places in the mountainous region of the State while weather would be foggy and cloudy in parts of Jammu region in next 2-3 days.
The cloudy and foggy weather has not only disrupted the normal air and train traffic while it has also hit the normal road transport in the road. Many inter-state buses from Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar and other destinations are arriving two to four hours late here. Due to poor visibility on the highways, the number of road accidents have also increased in last couple of days on the northern region.
A Northern Railway official said that many trains are arriving late for the last about one week due to dense fog and poor visibility. The departure timing of some of the late trains is also being re-scheduled. He disclosed that Varanasi Express which arrived about 7 hours late will also leave at 8 pm instead of 2 pm today. Jhelum Express was late by about seven and half hours, Jammu Mail about two and half hours, Pooja Express nearly two hours, Maurya Dhawaj nearly five hours late, Sarai Rohella about one hour, Rajdhani and Uttar Samparak Kranti nearly one and quarter hours late, Swaraj nearly three and half hours and Tata Moorie nearly three hours. About Himgiri there was no clear indication till late this evening.
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