Gulmarg, Pahalgam shiver at -5.6°C

ibune News Service

Srinagar, December 6

The minimum temperatures across the Kashmir valley continue to fall as an early cold wave gripped the region and is likely to continue for the next few days.

The temperatures across the Valley, including in Srinagar, have fallen below the freezing point during the last four nights that has marked the early arrival of a cold wave.

In Srinagar, which has recorded sub-zero temperatures, the overnight temperature was recorded at -3.0°C, said an official of the Meteorological Centre here.

The minimum temperature in north Kashmir’s Gulmarg resort, a famed winter tourism attraction, which is covered under several feet snow, was recorded at -5.6°C.

The overnight minimum temperature in Pahalgam, another tourist resort in south Kashmir, was also recorded at -5.6°C, the official said.

The minimum temperature in the southern gateway town of Qazigund was recorded at -3.1°C, the official said, while the mercury had dropped to a low of -4.9°C in north Kashmir’s frontier Kupwara town.

The drop in the temperature to freezing levels across the Valley has come in the backdrop of several spells of heavy snowfall last month, which has enveloped mountains and high-altitude regions in ice and lead to icy cold air in the region.

The MeT official said the weather was likely to remain dry till December 10, indicating the lack of respite from the growing cold. There is a possibility of downpour on December 11 and 12 as a stormy weather system is approaching the region.