Fresh snowfall in Valley

There was some relief from the intense cold conditions for the residents in Kashmir as night temperatures rose by several degrees, even as the valley experienced fresh snowfall on Wednesday, MeT department said.

Fresh snowfall began at many places across the valley including Srinagar, breaking the intense cold wave conditions.

Pahalgam, tourist resort - which also serves as one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath Yatra recorded three cm of fresh snow last night, an official a MeT official said.

The night temperature rose across Kashmir owing to a cloudy sky, he said.

The minimum temperature in Srinagar rose over three degrees from minus 5.8 degrees Celsius on the previous night to settle at minus 2.1 degrees Celsius Tuesday night, the official said.

He said Qazigund the gateway town to the valley in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 2.9 degrees up by over four degrees from minus 7.2 degrees Celsius on the previous night.

The nearby Kokernag town registered a low of minus 3.0 degrees Celsius Tuesday night down from minus 7.2 degrees Celsius.

The mercury in Kupwara town in north Kashmir settled at a low of minus 5.6 degrees Celsius as against the Monday night's minus 7.7 degrees Celsius, the official said.

Gulmarg ski-resort in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 6.0 degrees Celsius Tuesday night an increase of four degrees from the Monday night.

Pahalgam tourist resort recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius an increase of over eight degrees from the previous night's minus 12.3 degrees Celsius, the official said.

The official said the data for Ladakh region was not available.

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).