Fayaz Bukhari/
Gopal Sharma
SRINAGAR/JAMMU Dec 26: Gusty winds and bone chilling cold forced people to stay indoors in Kashmir as cold wave swept the region with Srinagar recording season’s coldest day so far with day temperatures plunging several notches below normal to settle at 3.7 degree Celsius while the winter capital Jammu witnessed season’s coldest night with minimum temperature at 3.5 degree Celsius.
Parts of Srinagar’s Dal lake and other water bodies besides water supply pipes froze due to sub zero temperatures that gripped the region. People today mostly stayed indoors to keep themselves warm.
A Meteorological Depar-tment official said that the cold wave conditions will continue for the next week and there is possibility of snowfall on January 1-2. “The weather will remain dry. However, we expect a downpour on Jan 1 or 2 that would break the spell, ” he added.
Srinagar recorded maximum temperature of 3.7 degrees Celsius, five degrees below normal for this time of the year and lowest for the season so far.
The night temperature plunged to minus 6.7 degree Celsius in Srinagar and was just a notch below from Monday’s minus 6.8 degrees Celsius, the coldest December night in 11 years. The all-time low recorded in the month of December in Srinagar was minus 12.8 degrees Celsius on December 13, 1934.
Qazigund recorded a maximum of 6.0 degrees Celsius, 3 degrees Celsius below normal and low of minus 5.9 degrees Celsius, while the nearby Kokernag registered a low of minus 5.4 degrees Celsius and maximum of 4.6 degrees Celsius.
The night temperature in Pahalgam settled at a low of minus 7.9 degrees Celsius while it had a maximum of 3.7 degrees Celsius against 6.4 degrees Celsius for the day.
Kupwara recorded a maximum of 3.5 degrees Celsius, 8.3 degrees Celsius below normal and low of minus 6.4 degrees Celsius.
The famous ski resort of Gulmarg recorded a maximum of 2.0 degrees Celsius, 3.5 degrees Celsius below normal and low of minus 9.4 degrees Celsius.
Leh was the coldest place in the region with night temperatures dipping to minus 17. 1 degrees Celsius while day temperature settled at 3.9 degrees Celsius.
Kargil recorded a maximum of 1.3 degrees Celsius, 8.3 degrees Celsius below normal and low of minus 14.4 degrees Celsius.
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 winter capital of the State, Jammu, recorded season’s coldest night, with minimum temperature 3.5 degree Celsius.
A MeT spokesman here said that Jammu recorded season’s coldest night with minimum 3.5 degree Celsius temperature and the maximum was 17.4 degree Celsius. He said that in the coming days the temperature will further dip by few degrees and the cold weather conditions will intensify.
The spokesman, however, forecast clear sky for Jammu on Thursday having maximum and minimum temperatures around 19 degrees celsius and 5 degrees celsius, respectively.
He further disclosed that in Banihal the maximum temperature was 9.9 degrees and the minimum minus 3.0, in Batote, the maximum temperature was 11.2 degrees and the minimum minus 1.3, in Katra the maximum temperature was 14.7 degrees celsius and the minimum was 4.2 degrees while in tourist resort of Bhaderwah, the maximum temperature was 9.4 and minimum minus 2.1 degree Celsius today.
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