Kashmir’s plains recorded season’s first snowfall

Srinagar, Feb 01: Srinagar and other plain areas of Kashmir received the first snowfall of the season on Thursday bringing cheer to the residents, while the meteorological department has predicted prevailing weather to continue till Saturday.
The snowfall in the plains began late Wednesday night and continued till Thursday morning at most places. Later in the afternoon light to moderate snowfall was recorded in higher reaches of Baramulla, Kupwara.
At many places in south Kashmir, the depth of snow was recorded as over 2-3 feet, which hampered pedestrian movement. The administration has set up several control rooms to help people across the Valley and asked them to remain on high alert.
In Srinagar snowfall started on Wednesday late night. The intensity and distribution of the snowfall picked up on Thursday early morning across Kashmir with intermittent snowfall in the plains and heavy snowfall in higher reaches.
As per MeT officials, Srinagar city received 2 inches of snowfall, ski-resort Gulmarg in Baramulla recorded a fresh spell of 2 feet of snowfall, Tangmarg 1 feet, Pahalgam 9 inches, Sonamarg 2 feet, Qazigund, 9-10 inches feet, Shopian 11 inches
Pulwama 8 inches, Tral 9 inches, Kulgam 8 inches, Kokernag, 1.8 feet, Banihal 9 inches, Jawahar Tunnel 11 inches, Kupwara 1 feet, Baramulla 8 inches, Ganderbal 7 inches, Bandipora 9 inches, Budgam 2 inches.
While most of the upper reaches experienced moderate snowfall at the fag-end of the Chilla-i-Kalan.
Peer ki Galli also witnessed heavy snowfall and recorded more than 2 feet till Thursday evening. Marwah in Kishtwar received 2 feet, Warwan 3 feet. Sinton Top, Minimarg, Sadhna Top, Zojila Pass, and Drass also received heavy snowfall till late evening. Karna, Keran and Machil sector in Kupwara witnessed heavy snowfall.
The snowfall at the end of Chilla-i-Kalan brought cheers to the tourists as well as the locals associated with the tourism sector.
The snowfall also snapped the only road link between Kashmir valley and the rest of the country as the 270-km Sgr-Jmu highway remained blocked by piles of snow accumulating at the Jawahar tunnel and other places along the highway.
A traffic police department official said around 2500 vehicles are stranded along the Srinagar-Jammu highway. While no fresh traffic will be allowed on the highway on Wednesday.
“Landslides, shooting stones, and mudslides have blocked the highway at several places. Men and machinery are on the job to restore the highway as soon as possible,” he said.
A traffic police spokesman said that Jammu-Srinagar highway is still closed, restoration work is going on. People are advised to avoid journey till the road is clear, please check with TCU before starting the journey
The Mughal Road and Srinagar-Sonamarg road are already closed for traffic due to snow accumulation.
While the railway connectivity remained normal from Baramulla to Banihal section. However, passengers were cautioned about possible delays attributed to adverse weather conditions. The railway authorities appealed for cooperation to ensure smoother journeys
Director MeT, Srinagar Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad told Rising Kashmir that the weather would remain dry with a possibility of very light snow at isolated higher reaches.
“There is a possibility of light to moderate snow/rain (in Jammu) at many places of J&K on February 3-4, and the weather is likely to remain dry thereafter till February 12,” he said.
Srinagar city recorded a minimum temperature of 0.2 degrees Celsius — down from 2.2 degrees Celsius on the previous night.
Pahalgam recorded a minimum temperature of minus 4.1 degrees Celsius, Qazigund minus 0.4 degrees Celsius, Kokernag minus 1.4 degrees Celsius and Kupwara minus 0.7 degrees Celsius.
Gulmarg registered a low of minus 7.6 degrees Celsius and was the coldest place in the Valley.
As per MeT advisory, due to intermittent moderate to heavy snow since past 3 days over higher reaches lead to temporary closure of roads of higher reaches and important passes, travellers are advised to plan accordingly & follow administration/traffic Police advisory.
Meanwhile, J&K Disaster Management Authority on Thursday issued medium danger level avalanche warning in eight districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
A JKDMA spokesperson said, “Avalanche with Medium Danger Level is likely to occur above 2400 metres above sea level over Bandipora, Baramulla, Ganderbal, Kupwara, Doda, Kishtwar, Poonch and Ramban districts in next 24 hours.”
“People living in these areas are advised to take precautions and avoid venturing in the avalanche prone areas till further orders”, he said.