Srinagar, Dec 23: Srinagar witnessed the coldest night of this winter as mercury plunged four degrees below freezing point last night and the weatherman has forecast plummeting of night temperature during this week.
A Meteorological Department official said here that the minimum temperature recorded last night in Srinagar was minus 4 degrees Celsius. “It was the coldest night of this season and the night temperature will further plummet this week”, he added.
The official said that Leh town in Ladakh was the coldest place in the region as the mercury dipped to minus 17 degrees Celsius last night while Kargil district recorded a low of minus 11.6 degrees Celsius.
The Ski resort of Gulmarg in North Kashmir recorded a minimum temperature of minus 7.6 degrees Celsius while Pahalgam in South Kashmir recorded a low of minus 7.4 degrees Celsius.
The weatherman has forecast mostly dry weather over the next week with snowfall or rain expected around Christmas at isolated places in Kashmir.
The weather this winter may remain mostly dry but the night temperatures are likely to fall with days to remain sunny. Srinagar and other places in Kashmir valley are witnessing sunny days and the clear skies result in colder nights.
Last winter in Kashmir was one of the coldest winters in recent years when in mid-January the night temperature plummeted to minus 7.8 degree Celsius, the lowest in 17 years.
The lowest night temperature in Kashmir was recorded on January 31, 1893 when the mercury plummeted to minus 14.4 degrees Celsius and lowest ever day temperature was recorded at minus 6.6 degrees Celsius in 1986 in Srinagar.
The sub-zero temperatures last season resulted in the freezing of parts of world famous Dal lake. The tapes in summer capital and other places of Kashmir division also went dry due to freezing for weeks together.
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