Srinagar: Srinagar and Qazigund are the coldest places in Kashmir valley while in Drass, Leh and Kargil in Ladakh Union Territory showed a further dip in minimum temperature throwing life out of gear.
A Meteorological Department official said, cold conditions continued to intensify in Kashmir valley on Thursday with further drop in night temperature as Srinagar recorded the lowest minimum temperature of the season at minus 1.2 degree Celsius as against the minimum temperature recorded as minus 0.5 degree Celsius previous day.
Similarly at Qazigund on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in south Kashmir it minimum temperature was recorded at minus 1.6 degree Celsius as against the minus 0.8 degree Celsius a day ago.
Cold weather coupled with thick fog engulfed most areas of the Srinagar city early in the morning making visibility low and disrupting normal life. The visibility on various roads including on the famous Boulevard road on the banks of Dal Lake and other adjacent roads was low due to thick fog and vehicles plying on the roads had to keep head lights on. However, with the sunrise the fog faded away gradually.
Drass, Leh and Kargil in Ladakh Union Territory saw a further dip in the minimum temperature making life tougher, a MeT official said. Drass the second coldest place in the world after Siberia recorded minimum temperature of minus 12.6 degree Celsius as against the minus 12.4 degree Celsius the previous day and similarly Leh and Kargil recorded a minimum temperature of minus 8.7 degree Celsius against the minus 8.4 degree Celsius and at Kargil recorded minus 6.4 degree Celsius as against minus 6 degree Celsius recorded the day before. In Leh it lowest temperature was minus 8.4 degree Celsius as against minus 8.3 degree Celsius recorded on Wednesday.
He said, Ski resort of Gulmarg showed an ordinary improvement in the night temperature as it recorded minus 1.1 degree Celsius against the minus 1.6 degree Celsius a day ago. The tourist resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir showed a further drop today with minimum temperature plunging to minus 1.2 degree Celsius as against minus 0.8 degree Celsius a day ago.
Kokernag, also in south Kashmir showed further drop in the night temperature as it experienced temperature of minus 0.7 degree celsius as against the minus 0.3 degree Celsius the previous day and in the frontier Kashmir district of Kupwara minimum temperature was recorded at 0.4 degree Celsius, against the 0.5 degree Celsius recorded a day ago. The MeT office predicted dry weather to continue in Kashmir and Ladakh region with night temperature likely to see a further drop during this week
