Season's coldest night in Gulmarg, Kargil; Leh records minus 6.5 deg C

Srinagar:  The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir along with Leh and Kargil towns in Ladakh region recorded the season’s coldest night owing to snowfall in several areas in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir earlier this week.

Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 5.6 degrees Celsius, a Meteorological Department official said here. The area experienced a drop of over five degrees in night temperature from the previous night’s zero degree Celsius, he said.

Gulmarg was the coldest place in the Valley and the second coldest in Jammu and Kashmir along with Kargil, the official said. Kargil town in Ladakh region also registered minimum temperature of minus 5.6 degrees Celsius, the official said. According to him, Leh town was the coldest in the state with the mercury there settling at minus 6.9 degrees Celsius.

Night temperatures at all other places in Kashmir division stayed above the freezing point last night. While Srinagar recorded a low of 2.9 degrees Celsius, Qazigund and Kokernag towns in south Kashmir registered minimum temperatures of 4.4 degrees Celsius and 2.6 degrees Celsius respectively, the official said.

He said the mercury at the famous Pahalgam resort, which serves as one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath Yatra, settled at a low of 1.4 degrees Celsius. The north Kashmir town of Kupwara recorded a low of 1.7 degrees Celsius, the official said. Several areas in the higher reaches of the state received snowfall on 15 November, while the plains recorded light rainfall which ended the dry spell in the Valley.

The MeT Department has forecast light rainfall or snow at isolated places in the state till tomorrow, following which the weather is likely to remain largely dry for a few days.