Drass shivers at minus 25.3

Srinagar: Kashmir continues to reel under bone-chilling cold with several water bodies including Dal Lake frozen as night temperatures stayed below freezing point.
Early morning, a dense layer of fog enveloped Srinagar while roads were covered with a sheet of ice keeping people indoors. Both morning walkers as well as commuters avoided venturing out as icy layers on roads due to minus temperatures turned them slippery.
According to Meteorological centre Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir experienced minus 7.6 degree Celsius-up from minus 8.4 on Wednesday night.
But there was no let-up in the freeze as large parts of Dal Lake were frozen with a large number of people including tourists walking and playing over the frozen surface.
To avoid any mishap, the administration issued an advisory urging people to avoid moving on frozen lake as it could result in slips, falls, fractures and fatal injuries. It also deployed State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) personnel along the lake to prevent people from walking on the lake.
In Srinagar and elsewhere, water supply was affected as tapes were frozen due to freezing temperatures. People are restoring multiple techniques to unfreeze water tapes and pipelines.
On the other hand, a dense layer of fog engulfed the Srinagar city on Friday morning causing inconvenience to commuters. But as the day progressed, there was some respite in cold conditions.
Meanwhile, as per the MeT, Pahalgam in south Kashmir was the coldest recording a low of minus 8.6 degree Celsius on Friday.
Qazigund recorded minus 8.3 degree Celsius against 10 degree Celsius on the earlier night. Kokernag recorded a low of minus 8.4 degree Celsius.
The ski-resort Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 5.7 degree Celsius against minus 7.0°C the previous night. Kupwara in north Kashmir recorded minus 5.7 degree Celsius.
Furthermore, Ladakh region having its history of extreme freezing temperatures during the winter continues to show its harsh character with Leh recording a low of minus 11.6 degree Celsius, Kargil minus 17.6 degree Celsius while Drass froze at minus 25.3 degree Celsius on Friday.

KALEEM GEELANI