The Kashmir Valley readies for the 40-day long ‘Chillai Kalan’ as night temperatures dropped below freezing point on Thursday in the valley with a cold wave prevailing throughout. An official of the MET department told IANS: “Cold, dry weather with foggy conditions in the morning is expected in Jammu and Kashmir during the next 24 hours (till Friday).” “Night temperatures throughout the Kashmir Valley remained below freezing point and the minimum temperatures dropped several notches below zero in the Ladakh region,” he added. The night temperatures were minus 0.4 in…
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Environment
Ailing Dal Lake continues to shrink : Study
The Dal Lake, a jewel of Kashmir’s tourism industry, has shrunk by 24.49 per cent in the past 155 years and is becoming increasingly polluted with at least 32 per cent of it described as “severely degraded,” according to a latest research. The study conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Kashmir has concluded that the lake had lost 24.49 per cent of its area between 1859 to 2013 as it faced “multiple pressures” from unplanned urbanisation, high population growth and nutrient load from intensive agriculture and…
Read MoreGulmarg receives first snowfall, border towns in Kupwara cut off
The Gulmarg meadow resort of the Valley received the season’s first snowfall overnight while the border towns in Kupwara were blocked by heavy snow. An official of the state Meteorological Department said Gulmarg received 1.5 millimetres of snowfall, covering the meadow resort with a thin layer of snow. The minimum temperature in Gulmarg had dropped to -2.0°Celsius overnight. It is the first snowfall in the region as it heads into a long winter with night temperature already falling below the freezing point during the past weeks. The official said several…
Read MoreHC asks DC Bla, SSP to seal all illegal structures in Gulmarg before Dec 19
The High Court has formed an expert committee headed by Deputy Commissioner Baramulla to ensure that no illegal structure is constructed in famous tourist resort of Gulmarg. Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against encroachments in Gulmarg, a single bench headed by Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar directed Deputy Commissioner Baramulla and SSP Baramulla to seal all the illegal constructions after on-spot inspection of the tourist resort. “A committee of Deputy Commissioner Baramulla and SSP Baramulla is constituted. The committee shall visit the Gulmarg within three days time from today. It…
Read MoreKashmir Valley Hit with below-zero temperatures
The Kashmir division reeled under sub-zero night temperatures, with the weatherman forecasting dry weather to continue in the Valley over the next 24 hours. Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, witnessed a low of minus 2.8°C last night but it was Kupwara that was the coldest place in the Valley as the mercury dipped to minus 3.8°C, an official of the Meteorological Department said. Leh was the coldest in the Kashmir division, recording a low of minus 8°C while nearby Kargil town also witnessed extreme cold last night,…
Read MoreGharana wetland plays host to migratory guests
Migratory birds have starting arriving at the Gharana wetland in the RS Pura sector. It becomes habitat for the birds from Siberia and Central Asia during the winter months. The wetland is 27 km away from Jammu and close to the international border (IB) with Pakistan. It attracts thousands of birds from Central Asia, China, Siberian Tundra, East Europe and New Zealand. Normally, birds arrive here in December and stay till February end. Though, the government has failed to save the area from encroachment despite Gharana becoming a conservation reserve…
Read MoreSrinagar records season’s coldest night, -2.7 degrees Celsius
Srinagar on Thursday recorded the coldest night of the season as the temperature dropped to minus 2.7 degrees Celsius while Banihal town was the coldest in the Jammu region at 2.5 degrees. “At minus 2.7 degrees Celsius, Srinagar recorded the coldest night temperature of this season so far. The minimum temperature was minus 4.0 in Pahalgam and minus 0.6 in Gulmarg today (Thursday),” an official of the MeT department told IANS. “Leh was, however, the coldest town in Jammu and Kashmir where the night temperature dropped to minus 7.8 degrees…
Read MoreCold tightens grip across Kashmir; Srinagar witnesses coldest night
Most places in Kashmir division continued to experience sub-zero temperatures as the cold is slowly tightening its grip, with the summer capital Srinagar witnessing the coldest night of the season so far. Srinagar experienced the coldest night of the season so far as the minimum temperature went further down from the previous night’s minus 1.9 degrees Celsius to settle at minus 2.3 degrees Celsius, an official of the Met Department here said. He said the night temperature in the city was continuously on a decline since the last few days…
Read MoreWular Lake: Can mistake that ruined majestic Kashmir lake be fixed?
Tucked within Kashmir’s Himalayan foothills sits a freshwater lake that was once among Asia’s largest. Long an inspiration to poets, beloved by kings, Wular Lake has been reduced in places to a fetid and stinking swamp. Just the sight of it makes Mohammed Subhan Dar feel sick. He admits he’s partly responsible. Dar was among dozens of villagers employed in the 1950s by the regional government to plant millions of water-sucking willows in the crystalline lake. The goal had been to create vast plantations for growing firewood and timber for…
Read MoreTemp drops below freezing point in parts of Kashmir
The cold has set in Kashmir as the minimum temperatures dipped below the freezing point in most places in the Valley, with the summer capital Srinagar registering the coldest night of the season so far. Srinagar recorded the lowest night temperature of the season so far as the minimum temperature at most places in Kashmir division dropped below freezing point, MET office said Sunday. The minimum temperature recorded in the city was minus 1.7 degrees Celsius – three degrees below the normal for this part of the season, making it…
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