New Year celebrations to miss fresh snowfall in Kashmir

Bone chilling cold forced people to remain indoors on a foggy Tuesday morning here, as the MeT Office said the New Year celebrations in Jammu and Kashmir are likely to miss the fresh snowfall this time.

The minimum temperatures throughout the Kashmir Valley and the cold desert Ladakh region of the state remained several notches below the freezing point on Tuesday, a meteorological department official told IANS.

"We are expecting the weather to remain dry and cold till December 31 with the minimum temperatures likely to drop further in Jammu and Kashmir due to clear night skies," the official said.

The minimum temperature was minus 3.7 in Srinagar on Tuesday while it was minus 0.6 in Qazigund town, minus 6.4 in Pahalgam, minus 6.6 in Gulmarg and minus 2.5 in Kupwara town of the valley, according to the official.

Leh town in Ladakh region recorded the lowest minimum temperature of minus 11.8 in the state while Kargil town recorded minus 10.2 degrees Celsius.

In the Jammu region, the minimum temperature was 7.0 in Jammu, 10.0 in Mata Vaishno Devi base camp town of Katra, 1.2 in Bannihal, 4.4 in Batote and 1.2 in Bhaderwah town.

Tuesday is the 9th day of the 40-day period of extreme cold in the valley known locally as the 'Chillai Kalan'.