At minus 6.8, Srinagar witnesses coldest night in over a decade

Srinagar, Dec 24: A wave of dry and freezing weather has engulfed Kashmir with mercury decreases with every passing day.

Monday night, the temperature in Srinagar plunged to minus 6.8 degrees Celcius making it the coldest night in 11 years. Result: partial freezing of the Dal Lake and water supply lines in the city.

“Srinagar city recorded a low of minus 6.8 degrees Celsius. This is the coldest recorded temperature in the city in almost 11 years. The city had registered a low of minus 7.2 degrees Celsius on December 31, 2007,” an official of the MET department said.

The all-time low recorded in the month of December in Srinagar was minus 12.8 degrees Celsius on December 13, 1934.

The official said Qazigund — the gateway town to the valley — in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 5 degrees Celsius, while the nearby Kokernag town registered a low of minus 3.9 degrees Celsius on Sunday night.

Kupwara in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 6 degrees Celsius on Sunday night, he said.

The night temperature in Pahalgam, which serves as one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath yatra in south Kashmir, settled at a low of minus 7.2 degrees Celsius on Sunday night, the official said, adding the resort was colder than Gulmarg and the coldest place in the valley.

The ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded a minimum temperature of minus 6.8 degrees Celsius while Leh recorded minus 14.7 degrees Celsius — down from minus 14.3 degrees Celsius the previous night which was the coldest night of the season in the frontier town.

Kargil recorded a low of minus 15.3 degrees Celsius.

Kashmir is currently under the grip of ‘Chillai-Kalan’ — the 40-day harshest period of winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum and the temperature drops considerably.

The MET Office has forecast mainly dry weather till Wednesday.