Photo Gallery: Mesmerizing visuals of white hills in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh

Several high altitude areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir experienced heavy snowfall while plains were lashed by incessant rains due to Western Disturbances. This led to the closure of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway -- the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country. 

With this wet spell, cold wave conditions intensified across North India on Tuesday.  At a low of minus 14.0 degrees Celsius, Kargil was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir. This was followed by Drass town which recorded a low of minus 6.8 degrees Celsius. 

Photo: People walking on a road during light rains as snow clad mountains are seen in the background, on the outskirts of Srinagar (PTI photo)

The MET office has forecasted widespread rain and snow with heavy falls at isolated places in Jammu and Kashmir till Tuesday. Similar intense cold wave conditions also prevailed in Himachal Pradesh. On Monday, Lahaul and Spiti's Keylong received 18 cm of snow, Dalhousie 10 cm, Kalpa 6.4 cm, Pooh and Sangla 4 cm each, and one cm at Kufri. Sundernagar, Bhuntar, Dharamshala, Nahan, Palampur, Solan, Manali, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Chamba, Amb and Tissa received 0.6 to 6 mm of rain. Lowest temperature of 4.2 degrees Celsius was recorded at Kalpa, followed by 6.1 degrees Celsius in Kufri, 6.2 degrees Celsius in Dalhousie, 8.2 degrees Celsius in Manali and 12.1 degrees Celsius in the state capital Shimla.

People walking on sno-covered path during light rains, on the outskirts of Srinagar. (PTI Photo)

Snow clearing operations underway after heavy snowfall at Gurez in Jammu and Kashmir''s Bandipora. (Photo: IANS)

The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed on Tuesday after a snow avalanche blocked both tubes of the Jawahar tunnel on Qazigund side. Photo: ANI

Snowfall at Uttarakhand's Tehri (ANI Photo)

Snowfall at Uttarakhand's Chamoli (ANI Photo)

Snow-covered Baramulla (PTI Photo)

 Visuals of snowfall from Pir Panjal mountain range. (ANI Photo)