Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Jan 9: While the foggy weather conditions and spine-chilling cold continue to grip northern region, Jammu turned colder than Srinagar as the winter capital city has recorded lowest day temperature of the season today.
With the dense clouds of fog hovering over the plain areas of Jammu and northern region as whole, the train, vehicular and air-traffic has been affected badly with the poor visibility at the runways, roads and the rail tracks.
As the cold wave continued to grip entire northern region, Jammu’s day temperature has shown sharp fall of nearly 8 degree Celsius since yesterday. The Chatha observatory of Jammu’s outskirts near river Tawi has recorded a day temperature of 9.2 degree Celsius which is lowest of the winter season so far. On December 26, 2014 the lowest temperature of 9.3 degree C had been recorded.
Srinagar today recorded the day temperature of 13.9 degree C, indicating that Jammu was much colder than Srinagar. However, the night temperature in Jammu was 4.3 degree C and in Srinagar minus 4.2 degree C.
The minimum temperature of 1.2 degree Celsius which is the lowest of this season so far was recorded in Jammu on December 30, 2014. On January 8, the night temperature in Jammu was 1.4 degree Celsius, while today it remained 4.3 degree C. On January 8 the day temperature in Jammu was 17.3 degree C while on January 7 it was recorded as 11.0 degree Celsius.
A senior SKUAST Jammu official said that with the improvement in cloudy weather condition in Jammu and thick fog, the night temperature has gone down considerably. He said that as compared to 17.3 deg C yesterday, today it has gone down to 9.2 deg C which is about 10 degree below normal. Otherwise, day temperature of Jammu should be around 19 degree Celsius.
A Met office spokesman told the Excelsior that Jammu recorded maximum temperature of 9.2 degree C today. Due to foggy weather conditions during night and the morning hours, the visibility was very poor and it affected the train and air traffic. As the earth is not experiencing heat waves properly, the temperature is continuously falling. Due to delayed trains, a huge rush of passengers has been witnessed at Jammu Railway Station besides Katra and Udhampur stations.
Katra Mata Vaishnodevi recorded maximum temperature of 19.3 degree C and minimum 7.3 deg C, Bhaderwah maximum 15.3 degree C and minimum 0.6 degree C, Banihal maximum 18.6 deg C and minimum 0.2 degree C, Kathua minimum temperature of 3.6 degree C and Udhampur 2.7 degree C.
Meanwhile, Kargil, the frontier Ladakh region continued to be the coldest recorded place in the State registering the lowest temperature of the season, with mercury remaining several degrees below the freezing point elsewhere, the Met official said.
Kargil recorded the minimum temperature of minus 17.2 degrees Celsius, down from minus 16.6 degrees the previous night.
Leh also in Ladakh region, recorded a minimum temperature of minus 16.2 degrees Celsius, slightly down from the previous night’s minus 16.0 degrees Celsius.
Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, recorded a low temperature of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius, same as the previous night, he said.
Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir valley, recorded a low temperature of minus 5.0 degrees Celsius, slightly down from minus 4.6 degrees Celsius the previous night. The mercury in Pahalgam resort in south Kashmir, which serves as a base-camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, registered a low temperature of minus 6.4 degrees Celsius, a degree up from the previous night’s minus 7.4 degrees Celsius, he said.
The minimum temperature in the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg settled at minus 3 degrees Celsius, slightly up from the previous night’s minus 3.6 degrees Celsius.
The night temperature in Kupwara, in north Kashmir, settled at a low of minus 4.7 degrees Celsius, while Kokernag, in south, recorded the minimum temperature at minus 1.7 degree Celsius.
The Met department has said that fresh western disturbance is likely to affect the State’s climate from January 12 which could result into isolated to scattered rain or thundershower. However, the weather would remain dry and cold over the State in next two days. Fog would continue to grip plain areas of Jammu region in next 24 hours.
A spokesman from Airport Authority of India at Jammu said that most of the flights were late due to fog during morning hours today. The visibility was poor and most of the flights could operate from the Jammu airport only after the weather improved around 1 pm. Though all the flights operated but most of the flights were rescheduled and their departure timings changed.
Meanwhile, a Northern Railways spokesman said that many trains were late as the foggy weather condition continued to hit train services. Pooja Express was late by 12 hours, Shri Shakti late by two hours, Shalimar Express by two hours, Bathinda-Jammu by five hours, Utter Sampark Kranti by three and half hours, Kolkata-Jammu by six hours, Jammu Mail by four hours, Anand Vihar by five hours, Jhelum by five and half hours, Varanasi Exp by five hours, Amarnath Express by eight hours, Andeman Exp by three hours, Tata Moori by six hours, Swaraj Exp by six hours while Malwa Exp by five and half hours. Pooja, Varanasi, Jammu Mail and Samparak Kranti also left late from Jammu station this evening.
The cloudy and foggy weather conditions have also affected vehicular traffic on the highways. Many inter-state buses from Delhi, Chandigarh, Amristsar, Haridwar, Ludhiana, Jaipur and other destinations are arriving late these days. It is said that due to poor visibility on the highways, the number of road accidents have also increased recently in the northern region. The chilly weather conditions have restricted the farming activity besides free movement of the people during early morning.
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