Gulmarg, Pahalgam receive snow, rains lash J&K plains

Major parts of Jammu and Kashmir received light to moderate rainfall while mountains, including tourist resorts of Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Pahalgam, experienced snowfall on Sunday night, meteorological (MeT) department said on Monday.

The cloudy weather coupled with precipitation from Sunday afternoon improved the night temperatures with mercury climbing above zero at three weather stations of Kashmir, including Srinagar, after eight days.

The MeT’s morning update said there was snowfall of 9cm and 0.2cm in north Kashmir’s Gulmarg and south Kashmir’s Pahalgam, respectively. Residents said central Kashmir’s resort of Sonamarg on Leh-Srinagar highway received over 1ft of snow till morning.

All six weather observatories in Kashmir and three stations in Jammu recorded rainfall. “The highest rainfall of 13.4mm and 13mm was recorded in Kupwara and Gulmarg, respectively, in the past 24 hours,” MeT said.

It said that Srinagar witnessed night temperature of 0.9 degrees Celsius, while it was 0.7 degrees in Kupwara, 0.2 degrees in Qazigund, -0.7 degrees in Pahalgam and -2.5 degrees in Gulmarg.

In Jammu division, Bhaderwah, Banihal and Jammu regions recorded similar temperature of 5.2 degrees, while it was 10.5 degrees in Katra.

In Ladakh, Leh recorded a low of -6.6°C, while it was -7.5°C in Kargil.

On Sunday afternoon, after more than a week of dry and extreme cold conditions, higher reaches in Kashmir received mild snowfall while plains were also lashed with rains in the beginning of a week-long intermittent precipitation predicted by the meteorological department.

J&K MeT director Sonam Lotus has predicted intermittent snow and rain in coming days with major activity on January 12 and 13.

The precipitation will affect the surface as well as air transport in the Himalayan region.

Kashmir’s is under the grip of harshest period of its winter which pans out in three stages, starting with the 40-day intense period from December 21(Chillai Kalan) followed by 20 more days that are less intense (Chillai Khurd), and finally 10 days of mild cold (Chille Bache).

The months of November and December for the major part were dry, recording below average rainfall or snowfall in Kashmir this year, the MeT said. However, the rainfall during last monsoon was normal after two years of deficit with Kashmir valley receiving 270mm average rainfall from June 1 to September 29, an increase of 6% than the normal of 254 mm.

Similarly, Jammu division experienced 886mm average rainfall in the four monsoon months, an increase of 7% than the normal 826mm.