Mercury settles above freezing point in Srinagar
Srinagar: The night temperature rose across Kashmir Valley as Srinagar saw the minimum settle above freezing point for the first time in more than a week on Wednesday, officials said.
The Valley had been experiencing sub-zero nights for the past week, setting in chilly winter conditions earlier than usual, MET officials said.
Srinagar recorded a low of 0.3 degrees Celsius on Tuesday night, up from minus 2.3 degrees Celsius the previous night, they said.
The officials said Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 2 degrees Celsius. Pahalgam was the coldest recorded place in Kashmir.
The mercury in Kupwara in north Kashmir settled at a low of minus 0.3 degrees Celsius.
Qazigund, the gateway town to the Valley, recorded minus 0.6 degrees Celsius, while as Kokernag, also in south, registered a low of minus 0.1 degrees Celsius.
The MET Office has said the weather will most likely remain dry but cold till the end of this month.
However, there is possibility – 40 to 50 percent chance — of light snowfall over extreme north Kashmir parts on November 25, it said.
The wintry conditions in Kashmir have set-in much ahead of the beginning of extreme harsh weather conditions which usually start around the third week of December. ‘Chillai Kalan’, the 40-day period of harsh winter in Kashmir, begins on December 21 every year.
