Kargil freezes at minus 21, Valley shivers

With the minimum temperature dropping to minus 21.6 degrees, Kargil town in Jammu and Kashmir recorded the lowest of the season on Thursday.

The minimum temperatures at all other places in the Kashmir Valley and the Ladakh region also remained several notches below freezing point.

"Kargil town recorded the lowest temperature of this season today (Thursday) at minus 21.6 degrees Celsius," an official of the Met office told IANS.

The minimum was minus 3.4 in Srinagar, minus 10.8 in Pahalgam and minus 12.0 in Gulmarg.

Leh town in the Ladakh region recorded a minimum temperature of minus 12.7 degrees Celsius while the Jammu city recorded a minimum of 9.0 degrees.

The official said the weather is likely to remain dry till Saturday.

"We are expecting moderate to heavy snowfall in the valley Feb 2 onwards. During that period, the night temperatures would pick up by a few notches, while the day temperatures would drop because of the cloud cover and precipitation," the official said.

Kashmir has received timely snowfall this winter that has helped replenish perennial water reservoirs.

The valley has received two major snowfall so far in this season. The first occurred during the first ten days of the traditional 40-day period of harsh winter called the 'Chilla Kalan'.

The Chilla Kalan started Dec 21 and ends Jan 31.