Even as the 40-day harshest winter period of ‘Chilai Kalan’ is three days far, Kashmir continues to reel under a severe cold wave with Srinagar recording the coldest night of the season, as the temperature plummeted to minus 6°C on Saturday.
A meteorological department official said the mercury went down in Srinagar from previous night’s minus 3.8°C to minus 6°C. Overall it was below minus 4.5°C than the normal for this time of the year, he said.
Barring last year, it is for the first time in one decade that mercury has plunged to minus 6°C or below before the onset of the ‘Chillai-e-Kalan’, starting on December 21. In the last ten years, on four occasions the mercury fell to minus 6°C or above in Srinagar.
On December 19, 2020 and December 30, 2019 the mercury had plummeted to minus 6.6°C on both occasions. In the last ten years, the lowest recorded was on December 25, 2017 when mercury plunged to minus 7.7°C. The lowest ever temperature for the month is December 13, 1934 when mercury fell to minus 12.8°C.
In other places of the Valley too, the mercury was recorded at very low levels. In south Kashmir’s Pahalgam hill resort, a minimum of minus 8.3°C was recorded while north Kashmir’s ski-resort Gulmarg witnessed a low of minus 8.5°C degrees, the official said.
Water bodies, including Dal Lake, have partially frozen due to the cold wave. The drinking water taps and supply pipes have also frozen at many places, leading to water shortage.
Leh, in the frontier region of Ladakh, recorded minus 13.1°C while neighboring Drass area in Kargil, the second coldest inhabited place in the world after Siberia, recorded a bone chilling low of minus 19.7°C.
The MeT department has said that mainly dry weather is expected till December 22 in Kashmir.” However, a Western Disturbance (WB) is likely to affect the Valley during December 23 to 25, leading to moderate to heavy snowfall in Kashmir.
The minimum temperatures were likely to drop further due to clear night sky as mainly dry weather was expected in the next three days in the region, the MeT office has forecast.
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