Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Feb 19: Most parts of Kashmir received rains while Gulmarg and hilly areas witnessed fresh snowfall with Meteorological Department forecasting wet weather over three days from today and Traffic Police issued weather advisory for travelers on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
Parts of the Valley, including Srinagar, received rains while Gulmarg received 2 inch snowfall and other hills also received light snow.
The MeT Department has forecast light to moderate rain or snow, especially in the higher reaches of Kashmir, over three days from today. “Moderate snow on hills of Banihal district and light rain in plains of Poonch, Rajouri and Banihal districts of Jammu division and light snowfall is also likely in Drass area of Kargil district,” a MeT official said.
Owing to the overcast conditions, the night temperature across the Valley, except in Gulmarg, stayed above the freezing point. However, this morning, the rains stopped and the clouds made way for bright sunshine, leading to resumption of traffic on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway which had been suspended due to bad weather.
“The traffic on the National Highway has been resumed after it was halted due to bad weather. There were shooting stones at few places due to rains but after the weather improved this morning, the debris was cleared off and the traffic was allowed to ply on the road,” a Traffic department official said.
The official said that 1276 Light Motor Vehicles, 1373 Heavy Motor Vehicles, 211 Oil Tankers and 17 buses had reached Jammu from Srinagar till 8 pm.
The official said that inclement weather in the State may lead to suspension of traffic on the National Highway and advised people to contact the Traffic Control Room (TCR) before undertaking journey of the highway.
“As per weather advisory issued by the MeT Department, moderate to heavy rain/snow fall is expected at widespread places of the State from 18 to 20 February, 2017 which could cause blockade of road and may result in suspension of traffic on NH-1A”, the official said.
“People are requested not to undertake journey on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway in case of bad weather. They should contact TCR Srinagar (01942450022, 2485396), TCR Ramban (9419993745) and TCR Jammu (01912459048, 9419147732) and officers of Traffic wing to get the status of the road before starting their journey”, the official said. The official said that in case of fair weather traffic will ply from Jammu to Srinagar.
The minimum temperature in Srinagar, which recorded 12.7 mm of rainfall during the night, was 4.7 degree Celsius.
Qazigund registered a low of 4.0 degree Celsius and the town recorded rainfall of 3.2 mm. Kokernag recorded 3.1 mm of rains and the mercury there settled at 4.2 degree Celsius, the official said. Kupwara town of North Kashmir registered a minimum of 2.7 degree Celsius and recorded the rainfall of 41.9 mm.
The night temperature recorded at Pahalgam in south Kashmir was 1.6 degree Celsius and there was 25.8 mm of rainfall during the night at the resort.
Gulmarg in North Kashmir was the only recorded place in the Valley where the night temperature was below the freezing point at minus 1.0 degree Celsius.
Kargil was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir at minus 3.0 degrees Celsius, while Leh town recorded a low of 0.3 degree Celsius above the freezing point for the first time this winter.
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