Day 4: Flight operations remain suspended

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 10

The air traffic to Kashmir Valley remained suspended for the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday as unrelenting dense fog brought the morning visibility to zero.

The dense fog which has continued to cloud the region since Saturday last week led to the latest round of cancellation of flights to the Valley, an official at the Srinagar International Airport said.

The official said all 28 flights scheduled to arrive and depart from the only civilian airport here were cancelled. “The morning visibility was zero due to fog and as such we had to cancel all flights. At 3 pm, the visibility was a mere 50 metres,” the official said.

The suspension of the air traffic is not rare in Kashmir Valley and has regularly happened during the past winters due to inclement weather conditions that include snowstorms and poor visibility.

The foggy condition is expected to continue for at least one more day as the weather department said there would be light rain and snow at isolated upper reaches of the region on Wednesday, while fog will continue to envelop the plains.

The spell of rain and snow is expected to intensify on Thursday and Friday with widespread rain and snow and isolated heavy falls over Jammu and Kashmir, which is expected to ease the foggy conditions.

In view of the forecast of inclement weather, the civil administration yesterday reviewed the preparedness of arrangements made to tackle the repeat of disruptions caused by previous spells of snow.

The meeting chaired by Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Khan, was informed that 154 snow clearance machines had been stationed across the division, while the departments concerned were warned that “no laxity in snow-clearance operations will be tolerated”.

A major snow spell in first week of November had caused widespread disruptions, including an electricity outage across Kashmir Valley, which lasted for several days.

The Valley has remained in the grip of severe cold during the past week as night temperatures across the region have plummeted several degrees below the freezing point.

In Srinagar and in other towns and resorts of the region, the minimum temperatures over the past week have plummeted to freezing levels.

Srinagar city recorded the overnight low of minus 2.4 degrees Celsius, while southern gateway town of Qazigund recorded minus 2.5 degrees Celsius and north Kashmir’s frontier’s Kupwara town recorded a low of minus 3.2 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature in north Kashmir’s tourist resort of Gulmarg was recorded at minus 4.0 degrees Celsius while south Kashmir’s Pahalgam resort recorded the low of minus 3.3 degrees Celsius.