Vaishno Devi hills receive season’s first snowfall

JAMMU: World famous cave shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi situated in Trikuta Hills of Katra town in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed season’s first snowfall, an official here said.

He said that the snowfall on the Trikuta Hills, including at the ‘Bhawan’ (sanctum sanctorum) , started on Sunday night and lasted for nearly half-an-hour.

There was no disruption in movement of devotees, he said adding, “many high-altitude areas in the Union Territory witnessed snowfall, while the plains, including Jammu city, received intermittent rains amid heavy cloud cover during most part of the day thus dipping the temperature.”

The pilgrimage to the shrine continued and the devotees were also seen enjoying the snowfall. Meanwhile the chopper services that remained hit due to inclement weather conditions and fog on Sunday have resumed and were operational on Monday.

Katra, the base camp for the pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi shrine, recorded a maximum of 14.8 degrees Celsius against Saturday’s 19.8 degrees Celsius, while the minimum temperature settled at 5.7 degrees Celsius.

Jammu also recorded a dip of two notches in the day temperature. He said the night temperature in Jammu was recorded 3.2 degrees, which was below the season’s average. (AGENCIES)