As Kashmir braces for Chillai Kalan, the harshest 40-day spell of winter, the fast dipping sub-zero temperature has slowed down the pace of daily life here.
Srinagar recorded a minimum of minus 4.2 degree Celsius on Sunday night, a minus-three-degree Celsius departure from the normal. The maximum day temperature too fell to nine degree Celsius. “Most shops open after 10 a.m. in Srinagar to avoid the morning cold wave,” said Reyaz Ahmad, a shopkeeper at Srinagar’s commercial hub Lal Chowk. Government employees too are showing up late for work.
Chillai Kalan usually brings with it several spells of snowfall. According to the meteorological department, the next 24 hours will see a further dip in minimum temperature to minus five degree Celsius, which could freeze water bodies and taps.
“The tourist hot-spots of Pahalgam and Gulmarg are shivering under a minimum temperature of minus 5.3 degree Celsius and minus 3.5 degree Celsius respectively,” said the met department.
Leh witnessed the most severe cold wave, as minimum temperatures hovered around minus 17 degree Celsius.
Haji Anayat Ali, Chairman, J&K Legislative Council, and Sham Lal Choudhary, Minister for Public Health Engineering (PHE), Irrigation & Flood Control, directed officials on Monday to make water available in the Ladakh region where most taps have frozen. “All sources of water freeze in Kargil and Zanaskar during the winter. We need more tankers for water supply,” said Mr. Ali.
Leh in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir recorded the coldest night of the season on Sunday as it recorded temperatures nearly 14 degrees below the freezing point. There was however slight relief from cold conditions at few places in the Valley.
Leh registered the minimum temperature of minus 13.8 degrees celsius, a drop of nearly two degrees from the previous night’s minus 12 degrees celsius, an official of the MET department in Srinagar said.
He said this is the lowest night temperature the town has experienced so far this winter and Leh was the coldest recorded place in the state.
Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees celsius, slightly up from the previous night’s minus 4.9 degrees Celsius that was the season’s lowest.
The official said the sub-zero temperatures have resulted in freezing of water supply lines in many areas of the Valley, while fringes of several water bodies were also frozen.
Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir Valley, also recorded the season’s lowest temperature as the mercury settled at a low of minus 3.8 degrees Celsius compared to minus 3.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday, he said.
The north Kashmir town of Kupwara recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius, up from minus 5 degrees Celsius the previous night, the official said.
Pahalgam health resort in south Kashmir, which serves as a base camp for the annual Amarnath Yatra, recorded a low of minus 5.3 degrees Celsius, slightly up from minus 5.9 degrees celsius 24 hours earlier, he said.
The resort was the coldest place in the Valley.
He said the mercury at the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg, in north Kashmir, settled at a low of minus 3.5 degrees Celsius — down from Sunday’s low of minus 3 degrees Celsius.
The minimum temperature in Kokernag town of south Kashmir went down by 1.3 degrees to settle at minus 3.6 degrees Celsius, which is the season’s lowest at the place.
The Meteorological Department has forecast light rainfall or snow at isolated places in the state on Monday, but said the weather would remain mainly dry over the next few days.
