Srinagar records coldest night yet of this year’s winter

Most places in Kashmir division continued to reel under intense cold with the night temperature staying several degrees below freezing point.

Srinagar city — the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir — recorded the coldest night of this winter at minus 2.7 degrees Celsius. Most places in Kashmir division continued to reel under intense cold with the night temperature staying several degrees below freezing point.

“Due to clear skies in view of over three-month long dry spell, the minimum temperature plummeted further at most places in the valley and continued to settle several degrees below the freezing point,” a spokesman of the MET department told PTI.

He said Srinagar recorded its coldest night at minus 2.7 degrees Celsius — four degrees below normal during this part of the season, against yesterday’s minus 1.7 degrees Celsius.

However, Leh, in the frontier region of Ladakh, marked an improvement in the night temperature which settled at minus 7.8 degrees Celsius against the previous night’s minus 9.4 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said, adding the town continued to remain the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir.

The minimum in Kupwara, in north Kashmir, went down from minus 2.3 degrees Celsius on Wednesday to settle at minus 2.7 degrees Celsius, while Kokernag town in south was the only recorded place in the valley where the night temperature remained above freezing point at 1.3 degrees Celsius.

He said the hill resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir recorded a minimum of minus 4 degrees Celsius, making it the coldest place in the Valley.

The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir registered the low of minus 0.6 degrees Celsius against Wednesday’s minus 1.5 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said.

The spokesman forecast mainly dry weather till November 20 but predicted light rainfall the next day.

Srinagar and other parts of the valley recorded the first sub-zero temperature on November 8, attributed to the long dry spell in the valley.

There was very scant rainfall over the past three months as a result of which the days remain warmer while the night temperature continued to be on declining trend due to absence of cloud cover.