Mercury stays below sub-zero in Valley
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 15: The vehicular traffic on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained disrupted for about 11 hours today in Ramban sector and a large number of vehicles were stranded.
Official sources said that due to major landslide at Mehar between Ramban town and new Chenab bridge, the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was blocked at around 8 am today. A major portion of the road was affected.
With this, a large number of vehicles were stranded on both sides. The Light Motor Vehicles and ambulances were diverted via Maitra, through old bridge, but movement of heavy vehicles was not allowed on that bridge. The highway for one way traffic could be cleared at around 7.20 pm and the movement of stranded vehicles was allowed first.
Frequent landslides at this point continued for the last three days. Even on Tuesday, the highway remained disrupted for four hours. After road clearance this evening, a large traffic jam was reported.
Meanwhile, the minimum temperature stayed below sub-zero level in Kashmir despite a slight increase today. The weatherman has already forecast mainly dry weather till the weekend.
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 0.2°C against the previous night’s minus 1.6°C . Today’s minimum temperature was below normal by 0.3°C for the city.
Qazigund recorded a low of minus 1.2°C against minus 3.0°C the previous night and it was 1.1°C below normal for the town.
Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 3.6°C against minus 4.6°C the previous night and it was 0.8°C above normal for the tourist resort.
Kokernag recorded a low of minus 1.5°C against minus 2.4°C the previous night and it was 0.6°C below normal for the place.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 4.2°C against minus 7.2°C on the previous night and it was 2.6°C above normal for the skiing resort.
In Kupwara town, the mercury settled at minus 1.7°C against minus 3.5°C the previous night and it was 1.5°C below normal for the town.
Leh and Kargil recorded a low of minus 10.4°C and minus 13.4°C respectively.
While Chillai-Kalan, the 40-day long harsh winter period that started on December 21 has ended, Kashmir is under the grip of a 20-day-long period called ‘Chillai-Khurd’. It will be followed by a 10-day-long period ‘Chillai-Bacha’ (baby cold) which will end on February 28.
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