After snowfall, sunny morning in Kashmir

Intermittent light snowfall continued in most parts of Kashmir Saturday night, but clouds made way for the sun Sunday morning even as the MET office has forecast mainly dry weather for the week ahead.

"There was intermittent light snowfall at most places in Kashmir Saturday night, but the valley experienced a sunny morning today (Sunday)," an official of the MET office here said.

He said the weather would improve from Sunday and would stay mainly dry for the week ahead.

Owing to the cloud cover, the minimum temperature at Srinagar rose slightly Saturday night and settled at minus 0.4 degree Celsius compared to the previous night's low of minus 0.8 degree Celsius, the official said.

He said Qazigund the gateway town to the valley in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 0.9 degree Celsius, while the nearby Kokernag town registered a low of minus 3.3 degrees Celsius Saturday night.

The mercury in Kupwara town in north Kashmir settled at a low of minus 1.5 degrees Celsius, the official said.

Gulmarg ski-resort in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 9.0 degrees Celsius, while Pahalgam tourist resort registered a low of minus 2.8 degrees Celsius.

The official said Leh recorded a low of minus 6.5 degrees Celsius, while the mercury in Drass settled at a low of minus 9.7 degrees Celsius.

Kashmir is currently under the grip of 'Chillai-Kalan' the 40-day harshest period of winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum and the temperature drops considerably.

'Chillai-Kalan' ends on January 31, but the cold wave continues even after that in Kashmir. The 40-day period is followed by a 20-day long 'Chillai-Khurd' (small cold) and a 10-day long 'Chillai-Bachha' (baby cold).