Snow cuts off valley, weather to improve from today

Srinagar, Jan 12: The fresh snowfall in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday threw life out of gear as the Srinagar-Jammu highway remained closed for the traffic and the air traffic was also suspended.
The local Meteorological department (MeT) earlier predicted a fresh snowfall, saying that there is a possibility of snowfall across the Valley till January 13 while as another snow spell will be experienced on January 19-20.
Normal life was disrupted on Saturday across the Valley with authorities ordering closure of Srinagar-Jammu highway in view of the slippery condition of the road.
The decision to allow the traffic movement will be taken subjected to the fair weather situation. Meanwhile, the historic Mughal road and Srinagar-Sonamarg, Gumri road remained also remained closed for the traffic movement.
The airline authorities also suspended the air traffic in view of the prevailing weather conditions and poor visibility with officials saying that the flights scheduled to and from Kashmir were suspended Saturday morning.
The officials in the MeT predicted improvement in the weather conditions from Sunday afternoon, saying that adequate snowfall is predicted in this month as another snow spell would likely be experienced in between Jan 19-20.
The minimum temperatures improved across Jammu and Kashmir because of the night-long cloud cover bringing in some respite from the severe cold wave.
Srinagar recorded minus 0.8 degrees Celsius, Pahalgam minus 0.9 and Gulmarg minus 2.4 as the minimum temperatures on Saturday.
Leh town recorded minus 11.9 degrees Celsius, Kargil minus 16.8 and Drass minus 10.3 as the night’s lowest temperatures.
Jammu city recorded 8.5 degrees Celsius, Katra 6.6, Batote 1.8, Bannihal 0.7 and Bhaderwah 0.6 as the minimum temperatures.