Severe cold conditions have firmly tightened their grip over Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh, with the mercury plummeting across the region and several places recording season-low temperatures.
Srinagar witnessed the coldest night of the season, while Drass remained the coldest in Ladakh at –24.6°C.
The biting chill has led to the freezing of water bodies, including sheets of ice forming along the fringes of Srinagar’s famed Dal Lake.
In the Kashmir Valley, Srinagar recorded a low of –6.0°C, down from –5.1°C the preceding night, making it the coldest night of the season.
The tourist resort of Pahalgam in Anantnag district recorded –7.6°C last night, compared to –8.6°C during the preceding night.
Similarly, the ski resort of Gulmarg registered a low of –7.2°C, making it slightly warmer than the previous night’s –9.2°C.
In south Kashmir, Pulwama and Shopian continued to reel under severe cold at –7.5°C and –7.7°C, respectively, while Sonamarg recorded –5.4°C, showing improvement from –9.8°C the previous night.
In the Jammu region, the winter capital Jammu recorded 5.6°C, lower than the earlier night’s 7.1°C. Katra settled at 3.5°C, Banihal at –0.9°C, Batote 1.0°C, Bhaderwah –3.4°C, Kathua 6.0°C, and Poonch 1.7°C.
The Ladakh union territory continued to bear the brunt of the harshest cold. Leh recorded –14.4°C, while Kargil dipped to –13.2°C. Drass, known as one of the coldest inhabited places in the world, remained the coldest in the region at –24.6°C. Padum recorded –20.3°C and Nyoma –21.6°C.
The ongoing cold wave conditions are likely to continue in Jammu and Kashmir with a significant fall in minimum temperatures till January 10, even as light rain and snowfall have been forecast at isolated places in the Kashmir division during the coming days.
According to the meteorological forecast, weather across Jammu and Kashmir will remain partly cloudy from January 8 to 15.
On January 16 and 17, generally cloudy conditions with light rain or snow at isolated places in the Kashmir division are expected. This will be followed by partly to generally cloudy weather on January 18 and 19.
On January 20, the weather office has predicted generally cloudy skies with light snowfall over isolated higher reaches of Kashmir. January 21 is likely to remain partly cloudy, while January 22–23 may see partially to generally cloudy conditions with light snowfall at isolated higher reaches.
Meanwhile, night temperatures are expected to dip significantly till January 10, after which there is likely to be a gradual rise of 1–2°C.
In the plains of the Jammu division, moderate fog is expected to persist, with dense fog at isolated places over the next four days.
