Chilling weather freezes Kashmir

A whether official said that Srinagar recorded in Srinagar city was minus 0.3 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.

The minus temperature resulted in the freezing of water bodies, including the 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,” MET official said.

Chillai Kalan is the period when the chances of snowfall are maximum and the most frequent as well.

Snowfall and rains during the winter usually lead to cutting off the Valley from the rest of the country as the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the only road linking Kashmir to other parts of the country, is blocked by heavy snow.

Winter tourist resort of Gulmarg was coldest in the state at minus 11.4 degrees Celsius and Pahalgam in south Kashmir shivered at minus 6.3 degrees Celsius.

Towards the end of January, the Chillai Kalan comes to an end but that does not mark the end of chill in Kashmir.

It is followed by a 20-day long ‘Chillai Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day-long ‘Chilla Bachha’ (baby cold).

"We are expecting lights rains/snowfall at some places in the state in the next 24 hours. Weather is likely to improve from Saturday morning onwards," an official of local meteorological said.

(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)