Srinagar-Leh, Mughal Road remain shut

Srinagar: The Meteorological Centre Srinagar (MeT) on Wednesday predicted another spell of snow and rain from Friday evening and said that beginning today weather will remain dry for two days.
“There was a good amount of snowfall in upper reaches and rainfall in plains of Kashmir valley during the last two days on Tuesday and Wednesday. We are expecting another wet spell after a short pause of about two days. The weather is likely to improve across Kashmir valley on Thursday morning, and this will remain up to the evening of Friday,” Mukhtar Ahmad, Deputy Director MeT told Kashmir Reader.
He said that Kashmir valley and Ladakh will witness snowfall in upper reaches and rainfall in plains from Friday evening.
“Overall, the weather is expected to remain inclement up to December 13. The upper reaches of Kashmir valley will witness low to moderate snowfall after Friday evening, while the plains will also witness rainfall during the same period,” said Ahmad.
The weather, he said, will improve on Sunday and will remain dry for up to next few days across Kashmir valley.
Meanwhile, the Disaster Management Authority (DMA) on Wednesday sounded alert of an avalanche for upper reaches, particularly Gurez in Bandipora district . Gurez has been included under the ‘’Orange Alert”, indicating high danger about the occurrence of avalanches. Similarly, higher reaches of Poonch, Kishtwar, Kupwara, Ganderbal and Kargil have been included in Medium Danger (Yellow Alert) avalanche warning. Upper reaches of Ramban, Anantnag, Kulgam, Baramulla and Leh have been put under Low Level (Yellow Alert) warning. People
“People living in these areas have been cautioned not to venture in the avalanche prone areas for the next 24 hours,” said the DMA.
According to the Met officials, Srinagar received 5.9 inches of rainfall while Qazigund in south Kashmir received about 5.8 inches of rainfall. Pahalgam received the maximum rainfall of about 12.9 inches, with Kokernag 8.2 inches of rainfall.
The ski-resort Gulmarg received about 6.8 inches of rainfall while Kupwara received about 10 inches of rainfall in the last 24 hours up to the Wednesday evening.
On Wednesday, Srinagar city recorded a maximum temperature of as less as 7.6 degree Celsius and minimum temperature of 2.2 degree Celsius. Qazigund recorded a maximum temperature of 6.7 degree Celsius and minimum temperature of 2.6 degree Celsius during the same period.
The famous ski-resort Gulmarg, witnessed a slight increase in day temperatures after recording a maximum temperature of 0.6 degree Celsius and minimum temperature of minus 2.0 degree Celsius. The Mercury in Pahalgam settled at 3.7 degree Celsius of maximum temperatures and 0.4 degree Celsius of minimum temperatures on Wednesday.
Kupwara recorded a maximum temperature of 5.6 degree Celsius and minimum temperature of 1.1 degree. Kokernag recorded 5.0 and 1.5 degree Celsius of maximum and minimum temperatures on Wednesday.
For the traffic movement on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, the Traffic Police said that subject to the fair weather, the traffic will be allowed from Jammu towards Srinagar on Thursday. However, they said that commuters are advised to avoid journey on the highway in the view of inclement weather prediction issued by the Met department.
For Mughal and Srinagar-Leh Road, it said that both the roads were closed due to the accumulation of snow.

KALEEM GEELANI