Srinagar freezes, cold wave grips J&K

Srinagar, Dec 18: (UNI) A cold wave has gripped Jammu and Kashmir, plunging the night temperature to freezing levels in many areas and Jammu recording the lowest December temperature on Saturday in nearly a quarter century.
There appears to be no immediate respite from the chilly conditions. The Meteorological Department has predicted a further drop in temperature in the coming days.
Srinagar recorded the coldest night of the season.
“Cold wave has set in at many places in both the hilly areas and plains including Jammu region. Expect further fall in temperature during next few days in the whole of J&K,” a MeT official said.
The drop in night temperatures varied from place to place.
While Srinagar city recorded a minimum temperature of minus 6 degrees Celsius, the tourist resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir saw the mercury drop to a low of minus 8.5 degrees Celsius.
Another tourist destination, Pahalgam in south Kashmir, recorded minus 8.3 °C.
The minimum temperature in south Kashmir’s Shopian was minus 8.2°C, in southern gateway town of Qazigund was -6 .0 °C and in the frontier town of Kupwara in north Kashmir was -6.1°C.
Jammu is also a terribly chilly winter.
Jammu shivered at 2.3 degrees Celsius at night — the lowest December temperature in 23 years, said an independent weather forecaster, Faizan Arif.
The lowest until now, 0.9 degrees Celsius, was recorded on December 28, 1998.
Sub-zero temperatures were witnessed in Samba and Udhampur. Samba recorded minus 0.4 degrees Celsius and it was minus 1.2 degrees Celsius in Udhampur.
In Ladakh, the temperatures plunged to extreme levels overnight. Leh town in Ladakh recorded a low of -15.3°C overnight.
The minimum temperature in Drass, the second coldest inhabited place, was -20.3°C, an official said.
The MeT has predicted widespread moderate to heavy snowfall at some places most likely on December 23-25.