SRINAGAR Snow began falling on Thursday evening before gradually blanketing Kashmir Valley by night.
The traffic authorities asked people consult control room prior to starting journey on Srinagar-Jammu Highway in wake of the forecast for snowfall till January 12.
Subject to fair weather/road condition, there would be one way traffic movement for both LMVs/HMVs on the highway form Srinagar towards Jammu (on Friday), a traffic department official said.
Meanwhile, the mercury dipped to 4.5 degree Celsius in Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, a meteorological department official said. He said night temperature rose and settled at minus 0.3 degree Celsius in the capital city last night.
The official said Qazigund the gateway town to the Valley recorded a maximum of 3.2 degrees Celsius (below 3 degrees from normal) and low of minus 0.0 degrees Celsius, while the nearby Kokernag registered a low of minus 1.0 and maximum of 2.0 degrees Celsius.
The night temperature in Pahalgam, also in south Kashmir, settled at a low of minus 11.4degrees Celsius while it had a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius, the official said.
The ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded the minimum temperature of minus 8.5 degrees Celsius while as day temperature dropped to minus 2.6 degrees Celsius, he said.
Kupwara in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 3.2 degrees Celsius while it had a maximum of 5.7 degrees Celsius, he said.
Kashmir is currently under the grip of ‘Chillai-Kalan’ the 40-day harshest period of winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum and the temperature drops considerably.
‘Chillai-Kalan’ ends on January 31, but the cold wave continues even after that in Kashmir.
The 40-day period is followed by a 20-day long ‘Chillai-Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day long ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold).
Regarding the forecast for next 48 hours, the weatherman said that there was the possibility of fairly widespread to widespread rain/snow.
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