SRINAGAR: Plains in Kashmir Valley received season`s first snowfall on Friday, with the ski resort of Gulmarg recording 22 inches of fresh snowfall.
“Plains of the Valley, including Srinagar, recorded season`s first snowfall on Friday,” a Met official said.”Gulmarg recorded 44.4 mm (22 inches) of fresh snowfall.”
People from all walks of life including those connected to the tourist trade were elated to see Kashmir plains turning white and seemed to regard the snowfall as the harbinger of a healthy winter tourist season.
Last year, snowfall came a little late which was quite a bit of a dampener, Director of Sales, Vivinta by Taj, Basharat Ahmad said. Early snowfall has a magnetic effect that draws tourists from outside in drones,
Basharat hoped the high-spending tourists must be rolling their baggage to enjoy the scenic splendour of the winter in Kashmir.
The major tourist attraction Gulmarg was inundated with tourists following the snowfall as many tourists who had previously arrived here rushed towards the resort in great numbers. Many locals too could be seen driving towards Gulmarg in their personal cars.
The scene in Gulmarg was simply indescribable, said Mohammad Ashraf, front end manager, The Vintage Gulmarg. The enthusiasm among the tourists was rising each moment as the white coat on mountains started getting thicker.
Ashraf said the hotel bookings in Gulmarg have surged and it is expected to increase in the days to come. Our hotel received many calls today and were expecting a lot of business by the year end.
According to the MeT official, more rain and snow is expected in Jammu and Kashmir till Saturday and then the weather will begin to improve.
The strategic Jammu-Srinagar, Srinagar-Leh and some other highways in Jammu and Kashmir remained closed on Friday following heavy rains and fresh snowfall in the area.
“Heavy rains and snowfall in upper reaches during the last 24 hours have triggered landslides and shooting stones in Ramsoo and Magarkote areas of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district,” a senior official of the traffic department here said, adding “This has forced closure of the highway.”
“About 500 vehicles including trucks carrying supplies to the Kashmir valley and passengers vehicles are stranded on the highway, but all of these vehicles are parked at safe places.”
The official also said 2 feet fresh snowfall in Pir Ki Gali area of the historic Mughal Road connecting the Rajouri district of Jammu region with the Kashmir Valley has also forced closure of this highway.
There was snowfall also in the Zojilla Pass stretch of the Srinagar-Leh highway that connects the Ladakh region with the rest of the Kashmir.
“Over two feet deep snow has accumulated on the Zojilla Pass on Srinagar-Leh highway. Traffic will not be allowed on the highway till further orders”, the officer told reporters. Drivers and conductors of the trucks, stranded at Ranga Mode, about eight km from Sonmarg, were rescued and brought to safer places, the official said. He added that there was heavy snowfall at Sonmarg, Zojila pass, Ranga Mode, Meenmarg and Captain Mode on the highway, forcing authorities to suspend traffic from both ways.
Jammu region’s Sinthan Pass road that connects Kishtwar district with the valley has also been closed.
Director MeT Sonam Lotus said that there will be improvement in weather and from Saturday the weather is expected to remain dry. He said that there will be increase in day temperature while night temperature may fall considerably.
An official from MeT office informed that the highest snowfall was reported from the ski resort of Gulmarg where 22 inches of fresh snowfall was recorded.
In Srinagar, the minimum temperature was recorded at 0.3 degrees Celsius. It was 0.4 in Pahalgam, minus 7.0 in Gulmarg, minus 1.3 in Leh, and 2.4 in Kargil town on Friday. The minimum temperature in Jammu city was recorded at 11.6 degrees Celsius, in Katra it was 9.0, in Batote 3.6, in Ban nihal the temperature was 1.5, and in Bhaderwah 3.6 degrees Celsius.
With improvement in bad weather, the traffic police has allowed the vehicles stranded on Srinagar-Jammu Highway between Udhampur and Jawahar Tunnel to move ahead.
However, no fresh movement of traffic is permitted either from Qazigund towards Jammu side or from Nagrota towards Srinagar side, a traffic police official told reporters.
Vehicles are being cleared and allowed to proceed towards their respective destinations on the Highway. But, vehicles are being stopped at Levdora, Qazigund on Kashmir side and at Nagrota and Udhampur on Jammu side.
He said the road at Battery Chashma has been restored for vehicular traffic.
The light snowfall brought cheer to the faces of tourists. The fresh snowfall in both the plains and upper reaches of Kashmir is likely to bring in a raft of tourists over Christmas and New Years Day.
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