Srinagar: Amid forecast for major snowfall, night temperature recorded a drop in Kashmir Valley on Thursday.A meteorological department official said that Srinagar recorded a minimum of 2.1°C against previous night’s 4.5°C. It was below normal by 0.6°C for the summer capital of J&K for this time of the year, the MeT official said.Qazigund recorded a minimum of minus 1.0°C against 2.0°C on the previous night and it was 1.4°C below normal for the gateway town of Kashmir, he said.Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 4.4°C against minus 2.4°C on the previous night and it was 0.9°C below normal for the famous resort in south Kashmir.Kokernag, also in south Kashmir, recorded a minimum of minus 0.4°C against 1.1°C on the previous night and the temperature was below normal by 1.7°C for the place, the official said.Kupwara town recorded a low of minus 1.7°C against 1.0°C on the previous night and it was 1.7°C below normal there, the official said.Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 5.6°C , same as on the previous night. The temperature was below normal by 0.2°C for the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir.Jammu, he said, recorded a minimum of 9.5°C and it was below normal by 8.1°C for the winter capital of J&K.Banihal recorded a low of 5.4°C, Batote 4.3°C and Bhaderwah 1.4°C, he said.MeT has also issued an advisory cautioning about the disruption of surface and air transport in the valley.It said that an active Western disturbance is most likely to affect J&K and adjoining areas from today evening/night onwards.Under the influence of this system, it said, widespread moderate rain/snow is expected in Jammu and Kashmir from February 29th night/early morning of March 1 till the afternoon of March 3 with its peak activity on March 2.“The above system is most likely to cause heavy to very heavy rain/snow over Pirpanjal Range of Jammu division and middle & higher reaches of Kashmir Division (Anantnag-Pahalgam, Kulgam, Sinthan Pass, Shupiyan-Pir Ki Gali, Sonamarg-Zojila, Bandipora-Razdan Pass, Gulmarg and Kupwara-Sachna Pass),” read the advisory.The weather activity may lead to disruption of surface and air transport including Jammu-Srinagar highway and other major roads of middle and higher reaches of J&K.It urged the people in snow bound areas to avoid venturing into sloppy and Avalanche prone areas. “Chances of landslides, mudslides & shooting stones most likely over the vulnerable areas,” it said, adding, “Farmers are advised to withhold all farm operations during 1st week of March.”While ‘Chillai-Kalan’, the 40-day harsh period of winter ended on January 29 and 20-day-long winter period called ‘Chillai-Khurd’ ended on February 19, Kashmir is the middle 10-day-long period ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold) which culminates on March 1. (GNS)

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