Moderate rain, snow sets at rest fears of drought in J&K

Srinagar — Moderate rain and snow occurred in Jammu and Kashmir during the last 24 hours, ending the over 50-day-long dry spell.
The Meteorological (MeT) office has forecasted more precipitation during the next 24 hours on Friday.
Srinagar city recorded 3.4 cms of snowfall, Gulmarg 60 cms and Pahalgam 23 cms. Jammu city recorded 77.4 mm of rainfall, Banihal 100.4 mm, Batote 163.7 mm, Katra 118.6 mm and Bhaderwah 72 mm of rainfall till this morning.
The minimum temperature was zero degrees Celsius in Srinagar city, Gulmarg was minus 2 degrees, and Pahalgam was minus 0.4.
Jammu city had 11.2 degrees Celsius, Katra 8.8 degrees, Batote and Banihal both zero and Bhaderwah minus 0.2 as the minimum temperature.
During the month of January and up to February 26, Jammu and Kashmir had recorded 83 per cent deficit rainfall. Due to heavy downpour for the last two days, the overall deficit for January and February has come down to 65 per cent.
All the water resources of Kashmir, including rivers, streams, springs, lakes, and other water bodies, depend for their survival on the perennial water reservoirs in the higher reaches that get replenished each year by heavy snowfall during the winter.
Scant snowfall this winter, followed by a prolonged dry spell, had triggered fears of drought in the union territory. Rain and snow during the last two days have addressed those fears of the locals to a large extent.
The 40-day period of extreme winter cold called the ‘Chillai Kalan, ‘ which started on December 21 and ended on January 30, witnessed just one major snowfall on December 28 last year.
A generally dry Chillai Kalan followed by a prolonged dry spell in January and February had triggered panic in farmers, fruit growers and the common man in the Valley. Due to the dry spell, some of the springs in different parts of the Valley, including the historic Achabal spring in Anantnag district, had gone dry. These springs are now back to life with gushing water discharge.