Fear of drought in Srinagar amid prolonged dry spell, advisories issued

A long dry spell sent the mercury soaring in Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital of Srinagar, which recorded its hottest-ever March this year, and raised the spectre of drought-like conditions.

Authorities have advised farmers in many areas not to cultivate paddy - a water-intensive crop - and the agricultural department is preparing a contingency plan to deal with any eventuality.

"The Kashmir Valley has been witnessing above-normal maximum temperatures. Especially in the month of March, the day temperatures were eight to 11 notches above the normal," an official of the Meteorological Department told PTI here.

"Though there has been some relief in this month, the maximum temperature is still above the normal for this part of the year.

He said the valley recorded the hottest ever month of March this year and the maximum temperature broke the nearly five decade-old record.

On the last day of March this year, Srinagar recorded a maximum of 28.3 degrees Celsius, which was 10.7 degrees above the normal. It was the all time high recorded by the capital city in its recorded history. The last record the highest day temperature in Srinagar in the month of March - was 27.3 degrees Celsius on 27 March 1971, the official said.

He said while the day temperature across Kashmir was still above normal, some rainfall earlier this month had an effect on the weather.

Deputy director, metrological centre, Srinagar, Mukhtar Ahmad said Kashmir has been witnessing a mainly dry spell since January and the Valley may continue to experience above normal maximum temperatures. There was not much rainfall or snow in January or even in February. Only about 20 per cent of rainfall has been there.

He said March was also dry. "The temperature has shot up because of the prolonged dry spell.

The situation was worrisome and alarming as less rainfall would impact "almost everything", even causing forest fires as was recently seen, Ahmad said.

This is an alarming situation. But, we have seen that there have been dry spells in some years. We had a dry winter in 2014, then we had much rains in 2015. So, this cycle is there every three-four years."