Srinagar: Kashmir reeled under intense cold conditions on Tuesday with Srinagar experiencing the coldest night of the season so far, the weather office said.
The minimum temperature across Kashmir and Ladakh remained several degrees below the freezing point on Tuesday owing to clear sky, an official of the Meteorological Department said.
He said Srinagar recorded the coldest night of the season so far as the minimum temperature in the city settled at minus 4 degrees Celsius last night – over four degrees down from 0.2 degree Celsius the previous night, leading to freezing of water supply lines at several places.
The city had recorded the same minimum temperature on December 8.
The ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded the low of minus 10.2 degrees Celsius last night – down from the previous night’s minus 8.5 degrees Celsius, he said.
The night temperature at Pahalgam resort, which also serves as one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath yatra in south Kashmir, settled at a low of minus 10.4 degrees Celsius as against minus 10.8 degrees Celsius on Monday, he said.
Pahalgam, in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, was the coldest recorded place in the valley, he added.
The MeT Office has forecast mainly dry weather for the week ahead.
Kashmir is currently under the grip of ‘Chillai-Kalan’ — the 40-day harshest period of winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum and the temperature drops considerably.
‘Chillai-Kalan’ began on December 21 and ends on January 31, but the cold wave continues even after that in Kashmir. The 40-day period is followed by a 20-day long ‘Chillai-Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day long ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold).
—PTI

Press Trust of India