Mercury drops in Kashmir

Night temperatures across Kashmir Valley plummeted with the minimum temperature in most parts settling below freezing point, even as Leh continues to be the coldest in the state.
Leh registered a temperature of minus 5.2 degrees Celsius, a MET Department official said today. The previous night's minimum temperature in the frontier town in Ladakh region, also known as the cold desert, was minus 4.2 degrees Celsius.
The official said the nearby Kargil town registered a drop of over four degrees in the minimum temperature which settled at minus 4.0 degrees Celsius.
The ski-resort of Gulmarg, which received fresh snowfall on the previous night, registered a temperature of minus 3.8 degrees Celsius, the official said.

The night temperatures in south Kashmir's Pahalgam settled at a temperature of minus 3.6 degrees Celsius, a drop of over four degrees from the previous night's 0.2 degree Celsius, he said.
The tourist resort had received season's first snowfall on Thursday night.

The night temperatures in Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, dropped two degrees, from the previous night's 4.3 degrees Celsius, to settle at a temperature of 2.4 degrees Celsius, the official said.
The minimum temperatures in other parts of the Valley also dropped with the mercury registering a low of minus 0.5 degree Celsius in Qazigund and minus 0.4 degree Celsius in Kupwara.

The night temperature in Kokernag also dropped but the minimum temperature settled above the freezing point at 0.4 degree Celsius, the official said.
The MET Department has said that light rainfall or thundershowers could occur at isolated places in the state.