Srinagar: Kashmir valley continued to shiver under freezing weather as the skiing resort of Gulmarg recorded a minimum of minus 7.4 degrees celsius.
The cold wave across Kashmir valley has intensified over the last three days with minimum temperature across the region and in summer capital Srinagar plunging drastically. The Gulmarg resort in north Kashmir recorded a minimum of minus 7.4 degrees Celsius, a MeT official said.
In south Kashmir, the tourist resort of Pahalgam witnessed a freezing minus 4.6 degrees celsius, he said. Srinagar city, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, got some respite from the intense cold wave as the night temperature appreciated by 1.5 degrees to settle at minus 2.8 degrees celsius.
The city recorded the coldest night of this season yesterday when the mercury plunged to minus 4.3 degrees celsius.
The minimum temperature in Srinagar was nearly one degree below the normal.
The sub-zero night temperatures have resulted in freezing of water supply lines in many areas while a thin layer of ice had formed on some small stagnant water bodies.
As a precautionary measure, the authorities of Public Health Engineering have resorted to snapping of water supply during night to prevent any damage to the pipes.
South Kashmir`s gateway town of Qazigund recorded a minimum of minus 3.4 degrees celsius, while as the minimum temperature in north Kashmir frontier Kupwara district plunged to a low of minus 4.1 degrees celsius, he said.
In the remote Leh district of Ladakh region, the mercury plunged to a low of minus 9.0 degrees celsius, an increase of five degrees compared to yesterday.
The adjoining Kargil district in the Ladakh region recorded a minimum of minus 12.4 degrees Celsius, the official said.
The cold wave is expected to further intensify in coming days as `Chillai Kalan`, a forty-day period of extreme chilling weather, will begin December 21.
PTI