Only LMVs allowed on highway today, from Jammu towards Srinagar

Srinagar: Overnight rainfall lashed parts of Kashmir and slightly raised minimum temperatures across the valley on Tuesday. The weather office has forecast the “wet-spell” to persist till the weekend.
The J&K meteorological (MeT) department had predicted rainfall in plains and light to moderate snowfall in the upper reaches across Jammu and Kashmir from 22nd to 27th of February. It had said the precipitation was likely to occur in a staggered manner till reaching its peak intensity on 26th and 27th of February.
The department also issued a “Yellow” warning for 26th and 27th February, alerting people to the impact of precipitation as it was likely to result in disruption of both surface and air traffic.
Rainfall started in parts of Kashmir valley along with Banihal during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. However, the day passed off without any precipitation in most parts of the valley, while bright sunshine was also witnessed by people later in the afternoon in most parts, including in Srinagar city.
Till Tuesday evening, Srinagar city received about 2.4 mm of rainfall with Qazigund receiving 3.4 mm of rainfall, said weather officials. Pahalgam received 3.2 mm of rainfall until the evening of Tuesday while ski-resort Gulmarg received a major amount of 6.6 mm rainfall. Kokernag received about 3.4 mm of rainfall and Kupwara in north receiving over 6 mm of rainfall till Tuesday evening, officials said.
The minimum temperatures increased slightly across the valley on Tuesday with Srinagar city recording a low of 6.6 degree Celsius, up from 5.8 degree Celsius on the previous night. The maximum temperature stood at 15.6 degree Celsius, over five degrees above the normal. Notably, the maximum temperatures have been remaining consistently above the normal for the past many days across Kashmir valley.
Qazigund recorded a low of 4.0 degree Celsius, against 3.0 degree Celsius on the earlier night, while the maximum temperature stood at 17.8 degree Celsius, over eight degrees above the normal. Its neighbouring Kokernag recorded 3.4 degree Celsius minimum temperature, against 4.0 degree Celsius a night before, and maximum temperature was recorded at 17.8 degree
Celsius, nearly seven degrees above normal.
Gulmarg recorded a low of 0.0 degree Celsius, as against 0.6 degree Celsius on the previous night. The maximum temperature stood at 5.4 degree Celsius, nearly four notches above the normal. Pahalgam recorded a low of 3.2 degree Celsius, up from 1.2 degree Celsius on the earlier night, with maximum temperature settling at 14.4 degree Celsius, nearly seven degrees above the normal.
Kupwara in north Kashmir recorded 16.1 degree Celsius maximum and 6.2 degree Celsius minimum temperature.
Traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway will ply from Jammu towards Srinagar on Wednesday, the traffic department said, subject to fair weather and road conditions. Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) will be allowed from Jammu towards Srinagar but the Traffic Control Unit (TCU) Jammu shall communicate with Traffic Control Unit (TCU) Ramban before releasing the traffic.
LMVs shall be allowed from Nagrota (Jammu) between 5 AM in the morning till 12 PM and subsequently from Jakheni (Udhampur) between 6 AM and 1 PM towards Srinagar. No vehicle shall be allowed before and after this time-slot, the traffic department said.
For Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs), it said, “Only stranded vehicles between Nashree and Ramban shall be allowed towards Srinagar.”

Reader correspondent