Rain, snow in Kashmir; pleasant weather in plains

Intermittent rains continued in large parts of Kashmir Valley and famous ski-resort Gulmarg had fresh snowfall today while temperatures rose marginally across north Indian plains and settled at pleasant level.
In the national capital, Delhiites woke up to a pleasant morning with the minimum temperature settling at 16.2 degrees Celsius, five notches above normal. The maximum stood at 27.6, as compared to 26.4 degrees Celsius yesterday.
In Punjab and Haryana too, the mercury continued to hover above normal levels. Amritsar recorded a low of 11.8 degrees Celsius, five notches above normal, while Patiala's minimum settled at 13 degrees Celsius.
In the Union Territory of Chandigarh, the minimum hovered six notches above normal at 15.2 degrees. In Haryana, Ambala recorded a low of 14.1 degrees, five points above normal while Hisar had a low of 14.2 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, intermittent rains continued in large parts of Kashmir Valley for the second day and the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg experienced fresh snow due to the prevailing western disturbance which will continue over the state till February 24. Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded 12 inches of fresh snow.
Gulmarg recorded a low temperature of minus 1.2 degrees Celsius, compared to minus 2 yesterday. Srinagar, the summer capital, received 13.8 mm of rains and recorded a low of 3.9 degrees, down by nearly a degree from 4.8 the previous night.

The mercury in Pahalgam hill resort in south settled at a low of 1.2 degrees Celsius against 0.4 degree yesterday. The resort recorded 20.4 mm of rainfall. Qazigund recorded a low of 3.6 degrees Celsius, compared to 3.2 the previous night.

Leh, the frontier town in Ladakh region, recorded a low of minus 2.9 degrees Celsius - nearly two degrees down from minus 1.1 degree Celsius the previous night. Kargil town registered the minimum temperature at minus 8 degrees Celsius and was the coldest recorded place in the state.
The MeT department said the western disturbance that is persisting over Jammu and Kashmir is likely to affect the state till February 24 with occasional gaps.
According to the MeT department, some places may receive heavy rains and snow during this period and these weather conditions may trigger landslides and avalanche in vulnerable areas of the state.

Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Rohit Kansal has asked the administration to gear up men and machinery to tackle any eventuality which may arise due to the prevailing weather conditions.