A moderate to strong Western Disturbance (WD) is expected to impact Jammu and Kashmir starting Saturday night, bringing significant weather changes to the union territory, officials said.
The Meteorological Centre in Srinagar on Friday said that the WD is likely to bring light to moderate rainfall in the plains of Jammu and widespread snowfall across most areas of the Kashmir region.
The peak activity is anticipated between the night of January 4 and the early hours of January 6. Weather conditions are expected to improve gradually hereafter till January 10, according to the forecast.
The plains of north and central Kashmir recorded light snowfall while heavy snowfall was recorded in higher reaches of Ganderbal, Kupwara, and Bandipora, Sinthan Top, Peer Ki Gali, and other adjacent ranges during the past 24 hours.
The weather is likely to remain cloudy today with the chances of light snow at isolated higher reaches.
The MeT office said another spell of light snowfall is likely to occur in the isolated places during January 11 and 12.
The MeT office has also issued an advisory stating that in view of snowfall, sub-freezing temperatures, and icy conditions over roads, including plains/higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir, tourists/travellers/transporters are advised to follow the admin/traffic advisory.
There was significant improvement in cold weather conditions in Srinagar and other parts of the Kashmir Valley as the minimum temperature improved but stayed below freezing point all across on Friday.
Meanwhile, the minimum temperature recorded during the intervening night of Thursday and Friday witnessed a significant fall but stayed below freezing point across the Kashmir Valley. At Srinagar it was recorded at -2.2?C against the -2.6?C the previous night. This was 0.2?C above normal for the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir during the period.
The night temperature at Qazigund witnessed a fall and was recorded at ?7.3?C on Friday against the -5.2?C recorded the previous night. This was 4.3?C below normal for the gateway to Kashmir on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway in South Kashmir.
After remaining the coldest place, the ski resort of Gulmarg also witnessed an improvement in the night temperature and recorded at -4.5?C on Friday against the -8.6?C on Thursday. This was 2.2?C above the average for the famous tourist resort of north Kashmir during this period of the season.
Pahalgam also witnessed a marginal fall on Friday and recorded at -4.6?C against the -4.0?C the previous night. This was 1.3?C above normal for the tourist spot in south Kashmir’s Anantnag.
Kokernag had a low of -5.5?C against the -5.8?C on Thursday, and it was 2.2?C below normal for the picnic spot of South Kashmir.
The frontier Kashmir district of Kupwara recorded a low of -1.6?C against the -1.4?C a day ago, and this was 1.0?C above normal for the place during this period of the season, the MeT office said.
