‘Yellow Alert’: Rains, snow lash J&K for 3rd straight day

Srinagar: While the rains and snowfall continued to lash Jammu and Kashmir for the third consecutive day today, the weatherman predicted that precipitation would continue for the next 24 hours.
Reports said the upper reaches of Kashmir including Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Peer Ki Gali, Zojila Pass, Sadhna Top and other areas continued to receive snowfall while the intermittent rains lashed plains including Srinagar on Friday.
The Meteorological (MeT) department issued a ‘yellow alert’ for Saturday stating that intermittent spells of light to moderate rain are expected at most places and snow in higher reaches as well.
Director MeT, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad said that the intermittent brief spell of light rain and snow is expected at few places towards morning and improvement towards afternoon.
The Director said that weather would generally remain dry from March 17 to 24.
Meanwhile, Independent Weather Forecaster, Aadil Maqbool said that moderate to heavy rainfall is expected over Jammu and Kashmir during the next 24 hours. “Good rainfall activity is expected across Kashmir with snowfall over higher reaches. The snowfall is also possible over Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Doodhpathri, Yousmarg and some middle reaches of Shopian, Kulgam and Kupwara,” Maqbool said.
“Improvement in weather is very likely from tomorrow night or early morning of March 16,” he added.
Moreover, the MeT issued an advisory, advising the travellers, tourists and transporters to follow administration and traffic advisory.
Farmers have been advised to suspend farm operations till March 16. The advisory also appealed to people to avoid visiting sloppy & avalanche prone areas and said that landslides, mudslides and shooting stones are expected at vulnerable spots.
Notably, the fresh snowfall and rains have further increased the water level in the river Jhelum and other streams across the Valley.
At Sangam, the water level in river Jhelum was 1.38 ft at 6:00 PM while at Ram Munshi Bagh, it was recorded at 3.86 ft. The other water bodies including Vaishow Nallah, Wular, and others were flowing above zero level this evening