After heavy snowfall, dipping mercury worries Kashmiris of slippery, dangerous roads

Srinagar: After one of the heaviest snowfalls in Kashmir in the recent history, the people of the valley are now concerned about the dipping temperatures which may harden and turn into ice the heaps of snow lying on roads and by-lanes.

Minimum temperature dipped across Kashmir Valley with Gulmarg recording a low of minus 10.0°C, a MeT official said on Friday.

Srinagar recorded a low of minus 0.4°C against minus 0.8° on the previous night, the official said.

Temperature settled at minus 3.3°C in Pahalgam against 2.5 °C on the earlier night, minus 1.8°C in Qazigund against 0.2°C on the previous night, minus 1.7°C in Kupwara while Kokernag recorded a low of minus 1.6°C, the official said.

MeT has predicted dry, cold weather till January 14.

As days are turning sunny, people fear that if the nights see clear skies too, the heaps of snow on roadsides may turn into ice making walking and commuting quite dangerous.

“The lanes and interior roads have still not be cleared of snow. And with the temperature falling, there is another worry that the roads will be extremely slippery making walking and travelling on a car or two-wheeler risky,” said Altaf Ahmad, a resident of Srinagar’s Gow Kadal area.

Danish Bhat, a shopkeeper in Jawahar Nagar said there are heaps of snow lying on the roadsides “which have already begun to turn into ice.”

“Yesterday, snow did melt during the day, but today morning, we see it has really hardened up,” he said.

Three days after snowfall stopped, residents of several areas are still complaining that the administration has not cleared the roads of snow.

“They have failed completely,” said Abdul Majid Bhat of Tengpora area.

Kashmir is in the middle Chillai-Kalan, the 40-day winter period which commenced on December 21 and ends on January 31. The period is considered the harshest of the winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum.

The cold wave, however, continues even after that in Kashmir with a 20-day-long ‘Chillai-Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day-long ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold).