Light snowfall in hills, rains break Kashmir Valley's dry spell

Higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir received light snowfall while rains in the plains broke the over five month long dry spell in the valley on Sunday.

"There has been light rainfall in the plains while hills received light snowfall during the night (Saturday night)," a Met department official said.

"Gulmarg recorded 1.4 mm snowfall by Sunday morning.

"Due to the nightlong cloud cover there has been remarkable improvement in the minimum temperatures across the valley.

"Against yesterday's (Saturday) minus 4.5 degrees Celsius, the lowest night temperature was recorded at 0.5 degrees Celsius in Srinagar on Sunday bringing relief to the residents from bitter night cold," the official said.

"Similarly, night temperatures improved in other places of the valley. Pahalgam recorded 2.6 degrees Celsius and Gulmarg minus 2 degree Celsius as the lowest night temperature.

"Even Leh town in the Ladakh region showed marked improvement in the minimum temperature. Against Saturday's minus 11.9 degrees Celsius, the minimum temperature improved to 1.3 degrees Celsius on Sunday.

"Jammu city recorded 12.5 degrees Celsius, Katra 13.4 degrees Celsius, Batote 6.9 degrees Celsius, Bannihal 5.7 degrees Celsius and Bhaderwah 5.7 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperatures," the official said.

According to the official, the weather is likely to remain dry during the next 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir.

--IANS

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