Says Surface Transportation To Be Affected On Jan 8-9, Air Travel Disruptions On Jan 12-13

Srinagar: Amid increase in night temperature above normal in all but Jammu district in J&K, weather department on Saturday forecast fairly widespread snowfall in Kashmir Valley and rains in plains of Jammu.
On January 8-9, a meteorological department official said that there is a possibility of light to moderate Snowfall(rain in plains of Jammu) at many places of J&K ( more than 75% chance).
From January 10-11th, he said, weather is livelily to be “generally cloudy”
From January 12-13, he said, there is possibility of widespread moderate snowfall (rain in plains of Jammu) with “heavy snowfall” over higher reaches ( more than 75% chances)
He said that weather system “very likely” to affect surface transportation during January 8-9th (70% chance) and Air transportation during 12-13th (60-70% chance).
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 1.4 degrees Celsius on Friday night up by over four degrees from minus 5.5 degrees the night before, officials said.
Qazigund, the gateway to the Valley, registered a minimum of minus 1.6 degrees Celsius, while Kupwara, a frontier district, recorded a minimum of minus 1.8 degrees.
Kokernag in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 1.4 degrees, the officials said.
The tourist resort town of Pahalgam in Anantnag district, which also serves as a base camp for the annual Amarnath Yatra, registered a low of minus 2.8 degrees Celsius — up from minus 8.6 degrees.
The minimum temperature in Gulmarg, the famous ski resort town in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, recorded a temperature of minus 2.6 degrees Celsius up from the previous night’s minus 5 degrees Celsius, the officials said.
Kashmir is currently under the grip of ‘Chilla-i-Kalan’, the 40-day harshest weather period when the chances of snowfall are maximum and most frequent.
‘Chilla-i-Kalan’ begins on December 21 and ends on January 30.
The cold wave continues even after that with a 20-day-long ‘Chilla-i-Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day-long ‘Chilla-i-Bachha’ (baby cold) following it.

KR Desk