Severe cold grips Kashmir, parts of Jammu
*Malwa Exp arrives 12 hrs, Humsafar 13 hrs late
Gopal Sharma/Fayaz Bukhari
JAMMU/ SRINAGAR, Dec 28: While cold wave continued to sweep the J&K region, with temperature at several parts of Kashmir recording minus three degrees Celsius mark, dense fog badly affected the air, train and vehicular traffic in the northern region, resulting in cancellation of six flights at Jammu airport today.
Worst affected was the train traffic due to dense fog and poor visibility in the region since last night. Malwa Express arrived 12 hours late, Humsafar Exp 13 hours while Madras Express was 11 hours late at Jammu Railway Station today.
A MeT spokesman said that Jammu recorded a sharp fall in temperature today, about 5 degrees Celsius less as compared to yesterday. During morning hours, the visibility in many Jammu areas including Satwari, Miran Sahib, Chatha, RS Pura, Bishnah, Bari Brahmana etc was less than 30 meters. Many vehicles were witnessed using dippers and fog lamps while people parked their vehicles on the road side for some time, waiting for improvement in visibility. A little improvement in weather was witnessed only after 11 am.
The weatherman has predicted a dry weather in the region with dense fog for the next four days. He also forecast light rain and snow in some areas of the Jammu and Kashmir on January 3-4.
The winter capital, Jammu recorded a maximum of 17.0 degree Celsius temperature today as compared to yesterday’s 21.7 deg C. The minimum temperature in Jammu today remained 5.8 degrees Celsius, while it was 7.6 degrees C yesterday.
Director Airport Authority, Jammu, S K Garg said that air traffic was badly hit today due to dense fog in the region. He disclosed that out of the 15 scheduled flights today, six were cancelled while one was diverted. He said most of these flights were supposed to operate during morning hours. Only eight flights could land at Jammu Airport today and most of them were late and rescheduled.
Meanwhile, a Northern Railway spokesman said that many trains arrived late by 2 to 13 hours at Jammu Station today. He said Humsafar Express arrived 13 hours late from its scheduled time, Malwa Express 12 hours late, Madras Exp 11 hours, Rajdhani 9 hours, Barfani Express and Jhelum Exp 8 hours, Tata Moori 7 hours, Shalimar and Happa Exp 6 hours late; Uttar Sampark Kranti, Jammu Mail, Himgiri, Vande Bharat and Puja Express were late by 5 hours, Sealdah Express by 4 hours while Hemkund and Shri Shakti arrived late by two hours. The departure of Vande Bharat train was late by four hours and Rajdhani by 50 minutes from Jammu Railway Station today, the spokesman added.
The vehicular traffic was also badly affected during morning hours today as many inter-state buses arrived late by 2 to 4 hours today from Delhi, Chandigarh, Haridwar, Shimla, Jaipur, Dehradun, Bathinda, Rohtak, Amritsar, Ludhiana and other places. In Jammu city also, the vehicles were seen plying on the roads through fog with their headlights and dippers on during morning hours. The weather improved only after around 11:00 -11:30 am. The Sun could be witnessed only after 12 noon in the city.
Meanwhile, severe cold continues to grip Kashmir amid further fall in night temperature with dense fog continuing to disrupt life in the Valley.
Pulwama remained the coldest place with a low of 6.4°C, followed by Pampore 6.2°C, Bandipora recorded -5.9°C, Shopian 5.6°C and Ganderbal -5.5°C.
Dense fog continues to engulf Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir, affecting normal life.
The Meteorological Centre Srinagar said that the minimum temperature dipped in Srinagar today and recorded a low of -3.3°C against the -2.6°C recorded the previous night. It was 1.2°C below normal for the city during this period of the season. The city recorded a maximum of 8.4 °C which is 0.5 °C above normal for this time of the year.
The maximum temperature recorded was 0.3°C above the normal of 7.9°C, against 8.2°C in Srinagar the previous day.
The minimum temperature at Qazigund fell to a low of -3.8°C against -3.2°C recorded the previous night, while Kokernag had a low of -2.0°C against -2.2°C recorded a day ago. Qzigund and Kokernag recorded 12.2 °C and 12.3°C which is 6.1 °C and 6.0°C above normal respectively for both the places.
The mercury at Pahalgam plunged to -5-4°C today against the -4.6°C recorded the previous night. It was 0.2°C below normal for the tourist resort. The maximum temperature at the tourist resort was recorded at 12.2°C which is 4.3°C above normal for this time of the year.
Gulmarg recorded an improvement by a couple of notches and recorded at -2.6°C against -2.8°C recorded the previous day. It was 3.6°C above normal for the famous ski resort.
Kupwara dipped to -4.3°C against the -4.2°C recorded the previous night. It was 1.8°C below normal for the north Kashmir district. The maximum temperature of the border district settled at 11.3°C which is 3.3°C above normal for this time of the year.
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