After brief respite, mercury dips again in Kashmir

A day after Kashmir got some respite from the cold, the minimum temperatures in the valley dipped again on Thursday night, the meteorological office here said.

Srinagar experienced its coldest night of the season with a minimum temperature of minus 4 degrees Celsius, two notches lower that previous night's minus 2.6 degrees Celsius, a MeT department official said on Friday.

Other parts of the valley also experienced sub-zero temperatures.

Pahalgam health resort, which serves as one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath yatra in south Kashmir, registered a low of minus 6 degrees Celsius -- two degrees lower from Wednesday night's minus 4 degrees Celsius, the official said.

The famous ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir was the coldest recorded place in the valley with a minimum temperature of minus 6.2 degrees Celsius. It is two degrees lower than previous night's minus 4.6 degrees Celsius, he said.

Kokernag in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 2.2 degrees Celsius, while the mercury in the nearby Qazigund settled at minus 3.6 degrees Celsius.

North Kashmir's Kupwara recorded a minimum temperature of minus 3.3 degrees Celsius, down from minus 1.7 degrees Celsius on Wednesday night.

The data for Kargil and Leh towns was not available, the official said.

The weather office has forecast rainfall or light snowfall at isolated places in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in the higher reaches of the state, from Saturday.

There is a possibility of scattered to fairly widespread rain or snow from Sunday, it said.