Intermittent snow and rainfall continued Thursday in Kashmir Valley and this has resulted in plummeting of temperatures. In view of inclement weather, the authorities issued avalanche warning and traffic advisory as more rains and snow has been predicted by MeT department.According to GNS Correspondent, light snowfall occurred in Srinagar this morning followed by light rainfall. There was light to moderate snowfall in several districts of Valley including Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora, Shopian and Anantnag.The upper reaches including Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Amarnath Cave, Zojilla, Sadna Top, Pir Ki Gali, Simthan Top and Pahalgam also received moderate snowfall. The Jawahar Tunnel area received snow and rainfall intermittently.An official spokesman said light to moderate Precipitation is expected in the next 24 Hours in higher reaches of Jammu & Kashmir. "Valid for next 24 hrs from 05 Jan 2017 (1700 hrs) to 06 Jan 2017 (1700 hrs) for the following areas of J&K: Medium Danger avalanche warning exists for avalanche prone areas above 3000 meter altitude of Kupwara district and 2500 meter altitude of Bandipora district.
"People are advised not to venture in avalanche prone areas during above mentioned period," an avalanche warning issued here read.A statement issued here by Traffic Department said: "There has been intermittent rain/snowfall today on 05.01.2017 at Jawahar Tunnel and other areas of the NHW. This trend is expected to continue in coming days as well as per the advisory issued by the Meteorological Department."It is quite likely that during night hours, water on NHW freezes due to dip in temperature during night hours as a result vehicles will start skidding/slipping on the road especially near JT leading to accidents. Under these circumstances plying of traffic on NHW during night hours would not be feasible," it said."In view of the above tomorrow on 06.01.2017, subject to fair weather and good condition of road, traffic on Jammu -Srinagar National Highway will ply both ways with the following restrictions:
"From Jammu (Nagrota), Srinagar bound passenger vehicles will be allowed to move only between 0300 hours to 1400 hours while heavy vehicles will be permitted only between 0330 hours to 1300 hours. However, the movement of oil tankers shall be allowed upto 1400 hours."No Srinagar bound passenger vehicle and oil tanker will be permitted to cross Udhampur (Jekhani Chowk) after 1600 hours while no heavy vehicle will be permitted after 1500 hours From Qazigund light motor vehicles shall be permitted to move towards Jammu only between 0800 hours to 1500 hours while heavy vehicles shall be permitted only between 0830 hours to 1400 hours. However, the movement of fruit laden heavy vehicles only shall be allowed upto 1500 hours," the traffic department advisory said.Meanwhile, a MeT official said the prevailing wet spell in Valley has brought down the temperature further and Srinagar recorded 2.5 degree Celsius maximum temperature today, the lowest so far and more than five notches below normal. He said snow/rain is expected to snow over the most parts of Kashmir in next 24 hours. (GNS)