Rains bring relief to Kashmir

Excelsior Correspondent

Srinagar, Apr 13 : Rains lashed Kashmir today bringing relief to the people from weeks of hot and dry conditions and the weatherman has forecast more light to moderate rains in next 24 hours as well as another rain spell of similar intensity on April 20-21.
“As expected, light to moderate rain has occurred at many places of J&K since late night and early morning. Today and tomorrow (April 13 &14), the weather is likely to remain generally cloudy with light rain at many places of Kashmir and at some places of Jammu although there’s no forecast of any major rainfall,” a Meteorological Department official said.
“Next spell of light to moderate rain (is) likely during 20-21st April.”
He said that Srinagar received 5.3 mm of rain fall this morning and recorded a low of 11.8 degree Celsius against 11.2 degree Celsius the previous night. The temperature, he said, was 4.2°C above normal during this time of the year for the city.
Qazigund received 9.2 mm of rain during the time and recorded a low of 10.8 degree Celsius against 8.6 degree Celsius the previous night. The temperature was above normal by 4.3 degree Celsius for the town.
Kokernag  had 1.2 mm of rainfall and recorded a low of 10.3 degree Celsius against 11.4 degree Celsius the previous night. It was 4.2 degree Celsius more than normal during this time of the season for the place.
Pahalgam received 6.8 mm of rain during the time and recorded a low of 7.6 degree Celsius against 6.9 degree Celsius the last night. The temperature was 4.7 degree Celsius above normal for the place.
Gulmarg had 7.8 mm of rainfall and recorded a low of 2.5 degree Celsius against 7.5 degree Celsius the previous night. While 1.5 degree Celsius is normal for the world famous skiing resort during this time of the season and the temperature was 1.0 degree Celsius above normal for the place.
Kupwara town in north Kashmir received 7.4 mm of rain and recorded a low of 9.7 degree Celsius against 8.1 degree Celsius the previous night. The temperature was normal by 3.4 degree Celsius.
J&K received largely 80% deficient rain due to the absence of any strong western disturbance or the winds blowing from the Mediterranean bringing moisture in March this year.
MeT department said last month, Jammu city received only 2.1mm rains against normal of 68 mm and Srinagar city received 21.3mm of rainfall as against normal of 117.6mm.