At minus 15 degrees Kargil coldest town in J&K

At a bone-chilling minus 15.2 degrees Celsius on Monday, Kargil town in Jammu and Kashmir's Ladakh region was the coldest as the local Met Office said the weather would remain dry in the state during the next 24 hours to Tuesday morning.

"The minimum temperature was minus 15.2 degrees Celsius in Kargil town today (Monday). This is the lowest recorded in any town of the state so far this season," an official of the local meteorological department told IANS.

"The Leh town recorded minus 14.0 today. The lowest temperature of the day was minus 3.6 in Srinagar, minus 5.8 in Pahalgam and minus 7.2 in Gulmarg.

"We are expecting further drop in the night temperatures during the next 24 hours because of dry weather conditions those are likely to continue during this period," the official added.

The minimum temperature was 7.0 in Jammu city. It was 7.6 in Mata Vaishno Devi Katra base camp town, 4.2 in Batote, 2.5 in Bannihal, 0.6 in Bhaderwah and 2.3 in Udhampur town of Jammu region on Monday.

The 40-day long ongoing period of extreme cold in the valley, known locally as the 'Chillai Kalan' that started on December 21 will end on January 31.