MeT Predicts Brief Wet Spell Today, Dry Weather On Jan 27, 28

Srinagar: The meteorological department on Wednesday forecast brief spell of rain and snowfall on Thursday morning amend improvement in weather on January 27 and 28.
“On January 26, the weather is expected to be generally cloudy with possibility of a brief spell of light rain and snow spell in the morning hours,” a MeT official said.
He said on January 27-28, mainly dry weather (80%) was expected while there is possibility of light to moderate snow/rain likely from 29th night -30 ( 60%).
The MeT department urged people living or commuting on snowbound areas not to venture out, unless emergency. He said there are possibilities of avalanches as hilly areas of J&K and Kargil district of Ladakh has already received very heavy snowfall.
He said Gulmarg received 3 ft of fresh snowfall till 1800 hours, Tangmarg 1.5ft, Srinagar 4mm of rain and 1 cm snow, Kokernag 20cm snow, Pahalgam 24cm of snow, Banihal 20mm rain, Batote 25mm rain, Qazigund 15cm, and Kupwra 3.3mm of rain.
Regarding temperature, the official said Srinagar recorded a low of 0.0°C against last night’s minus 2.3°C. Today’s minimum temperature, he said, is above normal by 2.3°C for the summer capital.
Qazigund, he said, recorded a low of minus 0.2°C against minus 0.2°C on the previous night and it was 3.7°C above normal for the gateway town of Kashmir.
Pahalgam, he said, recorded a low of minus 2.6°C against minus 8.8°C on the previous night and it was 4.9°C above normal for the famous tourist resort in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
Kokernag recorded a low of minus 0.7°C against minus 3.5°C on the previous night and it was 2.9°C above normal for the place, the officials said.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 4.6°C against minus 9.6°C on the previous night and it was 3.6°C above normal for the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, he said.
In Kupwara town, he said, the mercury settled at minus 0.6°C against minus 3.4°C on the previous night and it was normal for the north Kashmir area.
Jammu recorded a low of 10.1°C against 8.5°C on the previous night. It was 3.1°C above normal for J&K’s winter capital, he said.
Banihal recorded a low of minus 0.3°C (above normal by 0.5°C), Batote 1.9°C (above normal by 1.9°C), Katra 8.2°C (2.2°C above normal) and Bhadarwah 0.0°C (1.3°C above normal).
Ladakh’s Leh and Kargil recorded a low of minus 11.5°C and minus 9.5°C respectively, the official said.
Kashmir is under the grip of Chillai-Kalan, the 40-day long harsh winter period that started on December 21. It does not mean an end to the winter either. It is followed by a 20-day-long period called ‘Chillai-Khurd’ that occurs between January 30 and February 19 and a 10-day-long period ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold) which is from February 20 to March 1.

KR Desk