At -8.6°C, Shopian coldest in Valley

The J&K meteorological centre in Srinagar said that the capital city again witnessed a freezing night with temperatures dropping to a low of -5.2°C on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, some 3.2 degrees below normal at this time of the year

The sub-zero temperatures persisted in Kashmir valley with no let up in cold weather conditions on Sunday.

A tourist records video of a frozen section of Dal Lake in Srinagar, on Sunday. (AP)

The J&K meteorological centre in Srinagar said that the capital city again witnessed a freezing night with temperatures dropping to a low of -5.2°C on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, some 3.2 degrees below normal at this time of the year.

Friday witnessed the coldest night of the season in Srinagar at -6 degrees Celsius. The sub zero temps prompted various water bodies including the interiors of Dal Lake to freeze on its surface.

The southern district of Shopian registered the lowest at -8.6°C, followed by Pulwama at -7.7°C and Pahalgam at -7.6°C.

The northern ski resort of Gulmarg witnessed a low of -6.2°C while central Kashmir’s Sonamarg also froze at -4.3°C.

Kashmir valley is passing through its harshest 40-day winter period called Chillai Kalan which started on December 20. Though the period experiences most of the winter’s snowfall, this year has been largely dry with light to moderate snowfall intermittently in the mountains only.

Plains like Srinagar and other district headquarters of the valley have not yet received any major snowfall with mostly dry and sunny weather during the day.

The day temperatures were above normal across the valley with Qazigund in south Kashmir, the gateway town into the valley, recording a maximum of 12.1°C, some 6 degrees above normal.

Kupwara in north Kashmir witnessed a day temp of 10°C while the capital Srinagar also recorded above normal temperature settling at 10.9°C.

The MeT said that the weather would remain partly cloudy till January 15 followed by mild rains.

“January 16-17 will be generally cloudy with light rain/snow at isolated to scattered higher reaches of Kashmir division,” said an official of MeT.

He said that there will be gradual rise in minimum temperature at many places from Monday onwards owing to cloud cover. “Moderate fog over plains of Jammu division with dense fog at isolated places is likely to continue during next 5 days,” he said.

Rainfall likely in HP’s higher reaches on January 16, 17

Dharamshala The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Shimla office has predicted light rainfall in the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh on January 16 and 17.

The weather office said that dry weather will continue to prevail in the mid-hill and plain areas of the state till January 17. The maximum temperatures are also likely to rise gradually by 2-3 degrees over many parts of the state during the next 4-5 days.

While no significant change is likely in minimum temperatures during the next 24 hours, they are expected to rise gradually by about 2-3 degrees during subsequent next 3-4 days over the state.

During the last 24 hours, mainly dry weather was observed over the state with no significant change in the minimum and maximum temperatures.

Severe cold wave observed

MeT officials said that a severe cold wave was observed in Kangra, Berthin and Hamirpur, while a cold wave was observed in Bilaspur, Una, Dehra Gopipur, Palampur and Mandi. Moreover, dense fog was observed in Bilaspur and shallow fog was observed in Sundernagar, Paonta Sahib and Una.

Meanwhile, Kukumseri in the tribal district of Lahaul-Spiti recorded the lowest minimum temperature in the state on Sunday at -10.8°C. It was closely followed by minus 6.7°C recorded in Tabo and -2°C in Kalpa.

The IMD has also sounded an alert of a cold wave at isolated places in Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Chamba, Kangra and Mandi districts on January 12 and 13. An alert of dense fog has also been issued for several districts for the coming few days.