Upper reaches continue to receive fresh snow, incessant rain drenches plains

Srinagar, Nov 07: The upper reaches of Kashmir continued to experience fresh snowfall, while the rains drenched plains for the third straight day on Monday.
The Meteorological Department has forecasted another wet spell from Tuesday evening till Friday onward.
Director MeT, Srinagar Centre, Sonam Lotus told Rising Kashmir that they were expecting a significant decrease in rains, and snowfall from Monday evening and thereafter weather will remain generally cloudy till Tuesday evening.
“Another Western Disturbance (WD) is most likely going to affect J&K and adjoining areas from November 8th (evening) to November 10th (morning) with main activity on Wednesday,” he said.
Lotus said due to this Western Disturbance, widespread rain is expected over plains and light to moderate snowfall is expected over higher reaches till Nov 8th and gradual improvement thereafter.
“We are expecting improvement in prevailing weather conditions from November 11th to 18th November in Kashmir valley,” he said.
As per the MeT advisory, snowfall and low temperature may lead to temporary disruption of surface transportation mainly over Zojila, Jammu-Srinagar highway, Leh-Manali road etc today and between November 9-11.
“People are advised to check the status of these roads from traffic police prior to embarking on a journey to avoid inconveniences,” it said.
The advisory reads, “Travellers on major passes are advised to carry sufficient food items, warm shoes, clothes etc. with them as road conditions remain uncertain during the inclement weather.
As per MeT department officials, 1.4 feet of fresh snowfall was recorded at the ski-resort Gulmarg in Baramulla. Kupwara district’s Tangdar and Keran sectors recorded 9-11 inches of snow, while 4-7 inches of snowfall was recorded in Gurez, Tulail in Bandipora. Similarly, 5-6 inches of snow was recorded over Peer Ki Gali and Sonamarg areas of Valley.
Meanwhile, continuous rains drenched plains for the third consecutive day. Srinagar recorded 30.4 mm of rainfall during the past 24 hours, Gulmarg 29.6 mm, Qazigund 36.3 mm, Kupwara 23.8 mm, and Pahalgam 19.1 mm, and Kokernag 24.6 mm.
The downpour has resulted in a dip in night temperature across the valley as Gulmarg was the coldest place in Kashmir and settled at minus 4.5 degrees Celsius for its minimum temperature and 0.2 °C as maximum temperatures on Monday.
Summer capital Srinagar recorded a maximum of 7.2 degrees Celsius and 4.2 °C as the minimum temperature.
Health resort Pahalgam recorded 5.6 °C as the maximum temperature and a minimum of 1.6°C degrees. Qazigund recorded a maximum of 7.8°C and 5.4° C as the maximum and minimum temperatures respectively.
Kupwara in north Kashmir recorded maximum temperatures of 4.9°C, while minimum temperatures settled at 2.3 °C.