The 40-day long ‘Chillai Kalan’ – which is the harshest period of winter – began today in Kashmir Valley with shivering cold as Srinagar witnesses’ coldest night of the season, resulting in freezing of water bodies including parts of Dal Lake.A Meteorological official told GNS that the Srinagar froze at -5.6 degree Celsius last night which is the coldest so far this season. The minus temperature resulted in the freezing of water bodies including world famous Dal Lake at several places. The day temperature in Srinagar was recorded 9 degrees. Many Srinagar residents said that the water stored in tanks atop their houses was also froze due to intense cold overnight.In north Kashmir, the star tourist attraction and world famous ski resort Gulmarg froze at -11 against the normal temperature of -4 while the day temperature was recorded as 0.5. Leh, which is called cold desert, recorded a minimum temperature o -15.1 degrees while its neighbouring district, Kargil shivered at -14.2.
Pahalgam tourist destination in south Kashmir recorded -7.2 night temperature while the day temperature was 6.9. Qazigund, the Gateway of Kashmir Valley, recorded -2.4 minimum and the maximum temperature was 9.3. The Kokernag also recorded -2.4 minimum and the day temperature stood at 7.4. The north Kashmir’s Kupwara shivered at -4.2 in the night but day temperature was 10.2, which is the highest anywhere in Valley.The MeT official said there is forecast of Light rain/snow in Srinagar for Tuesday while the night temperature is also expected to improve. “The maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 05 °C and -1 °C respectively,” he said. The MeT official further informed that the Jammu recorded 19.1 maximum while the minimum temperatures stood at 4.9.Due to intense cold the people of the Valley is having tough time and they are praying for the snow and rains, which would improve the night temperature and residents would have sigh of relief. (GNS)