Valley shivers as ‘chillai kalan’ sets in

ibune News Service

Srinagar, December 21

The 40-day harshest winter, known as “chillai kalan”, began in Kashmir on Friday.

‘Chillai kalan’ that begins annually on the winter solstice, the year’s shortest day and longest night, lasts for 40 days and is considered the harshest winter period. The phase begins when least amount of sunlight is received in the northern hemisphere.

On the first night of the phase, which is feared for its freezing weather and snow spell, the overnight temperatures across the Kashmir valley dropped several degrees below the freezing point.

While Srinagar, the state’s summer capital, recorded another freezing night at -4.4°C, the minimum temperature in north Kashmir’s Gulmarg resort was registered at -6.0°C and -5.8°C in the frontier Kupwara town.

The mercury dropped to a low of -4.7°C in the southern gateway town of Qazigund and -7.5°C at Pahalgam resort.

The Kashmir valley has been recording sub-zero temperature since the early autumn snowfall in November first week, which also marked the early arrival of winter in the region. The Valley has received three spells of snowfall this season — all of them taking place ahead of ‘chillai kalan’, which is an unusual occurrence as such precipitation in recent years had taken place after the winter’s core period had ended.

The significant drop in minimum temperatures, which broke the records of past decades ahead of the winter’s core period, is consistent with the erratic weather behaviour and unusual patterned spells of precipitation in the Valley, which have led to lengthy droughts and untimely snowstorms in recent years.