Rains, snow in Valley; mercury above zero due to overcast sky

Most parts of Kashmir received rains overnight while Gulmarg witnessed fresh snowfall but overcast sky conditions made sure the night temperatures remain above the freezing point.
The Meteorological Department has forecast a wet weather over three days from today.
Parts of the Valley, including summer capital Srinagar, received rains while famous ski-resort of Gulmarg received snowfall of about 1 inch during the night, an official of the Meteorological Department here said.
He said there is possibility of light to moderate rain or snow, especially in the higher reaches of Kashmir, over three days from today.
"Moderate snow on hills of Banihal district and light rain in plains of Poonch, Rajouri and Banihal districts of Jammu division and light snowfall is also likely in Drass area of Kargil district," the official said.

Owing to the overcast conditions, the night temperature across the Valley, except in Gulmarg, stayed above the freezing point.

However, this morning, the rains stopped and the clouds made way for bright sunshine, leading to resumption of traffic on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway which had been suspended due to bad weather.
"The traffic on the national highway has been resumed after it was halted due to bad weather. There were shooting stones at few places due to rains but after the weather improved this morning, the debris was cleared off and the traffic was allowed to ply on the road," a traffic department official said.

The minimum temperature in Srinagar, which recorded 12.7 mm of rainfall during the night, was 4.7 degrees Celsius, the MET Office official said.
He said Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir along Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, registered a low of 4.0 degrees Celsius and the town recorded rainfall of 3.2 mm.
Kokernag recorded 3.1 mm of rains and the mercury there settled at 4.2 degrees Celsius, the official said.
He said Kupwara town of north Kashmir registered a minimum of 2.7 degrees Celsius and recorded the rainfall of 41.9 mm.
The night temperature recorded at the famous hill resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir was 1.6 degrees Celsius, the official said, adding there was 25.8 mm of rainfall during the night at the resort.

He said the famous ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir was the only recorded place in the Valley where the night temperature was below the freezing point at minus 1.0 degrees Celsius.
Kargil in the frontier region of Ladakh was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir at minus 3.0 degrees Celsius, while the nearby Leh town recorded a low of 0.3 degrees Celsius - above the freezing point for the first time this winter, the official said.