Srinagar: The minimum temperatures across Kashmir and Ladakh regions were in the downward spiral as several places, including Srinagar city, recorded the coldest night of the season, a MeT Department official said today.
Srinagar registered a minimum temperature of minus 5.3 degrees Celsius last night, a drop of 1.6 degrees as compared to previous night`s minus 3.7 degrees Celsius, the official said.
This was the coldest night of the season in Srinagar this winter, he said.
Kargil in Ladakh region was the coldest place last night as mercury dipped to season`s low of minus 18.9 degrees Celsius.
Leh also recorded the coldest night of the season so far as the minimum temperature dropped to minus 17.7 degrees Celsius as compared to minus 17.3 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Qazigund, the gateway town to the Kashmir Valley, recorded a low of minus 4.8 degrees Celsius as compared to last night`s low of 4.0 degrees Celsius.
The night temperature in Pahalgam hill resort, which serves as a base camp during the annual Amarnath yatra, settled at a low of minus 9.0 degrees Celsius as compared to the previous night`s minus 7.8 degrees Celsius.
The famous ski resort of Gulmarg registered a low of minus 10.2 degrees Celsius, marginally down from minus 9.6 degrees Celsius the previous night.
The minimum in Kokernag, in south Kashmir, settled at minus 6.1 degrees Celsius, a drop of nearly one degree from the previous night`s minus 5.2 degrees Celsius.
Kupwara, in north Kashmir, registered a low of minus 6.2
degrees Celsius, a drop of 2.5 degrees from minus 3.7 degrees Celsius.
The Kashmir Valley is currently going through `Chillai-Kalan`, considered as the harshest 40-day winter period, which began on December 21.
During this period, the Valley and Ladakh region experience intense cold conditions and possibility of snowfall is also maximum and most frequent.
The MeT Department has said the weather would remain cold and dry over the next 24 hours and there is possibility of rains or snowfall on December 31.
