SRINAGAR: Incessant rains drenched plains in Jammu and Kashmir while higher reaches including Gulmarg recorded fresh snowfall, officials said on Saturday. A meteorological department official said that in 24 hours till 0830 hours today, Srinagar received 20.5mm of rain, Qazigund 45.4mm, Pahalgam 27.5mm (0.8cms), Kupwara 16.6mm (2 cms of snowfall), Kokernag 30.4mm, Jammu 6.7mm, Banihal 74.4.2mm, Batote 41.9mm, Katra 9.0mm and Bhaderwah 55.4.0mm while Gulmarg received 38.1 cms (around 1.3-ft) of snowfall. He said Srinagar recorded a minimum of 2.0°C against previous night’s 4.5°C. It was below normal by 0.2°C for the summer capital of J&K for this time of the year, the MeT official said. Qazigund recorded a minimum of 1.8°C against 2.4°C on the previous night and it was 0.9°C above normal for the gateway town of Kashmir, he said. Pahalgam recorded a low of 0.5°C against 1.3°C on the previous night and it was 2.8°C above normal for the famous resort in south Kashmir. Kokernag, also in south Kashmir, recorded a minimum of 1.6°C against 2.3°C on the previous night and it was 0.7°C above normal, the official said. Kupwara town recorded a low of minus 0.3°C against 2.3°C on the previous night and it was 0.3°C below normal there, the official said. Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 2.0°C and minus 3.6°C on the previous night. The temperature was above normal by 3.0°C for the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir. Jammu, he said, recorded a minimum of 13.4°C and it was above normal by 1.1°C for the winter capital of J&K. Banihal recorded a low of 4.2°C, Batote 4.8°C and Bhaderwah 4.4°C, he said. MeT has also issued an advisory cautioning about the disruption of surface and air transport in the valley. It said widespread moderate to heavy rain/snow is expected in Jammu and Kashmir till the afternoon of March 3 with its peak activity today. “The above system is most likely to cause heavy to very heavy rain/snow over Pirpanjal Range of Jammu division and middle & higher reaches of Kashmir Division (Anantnag-Pahalgam, Kulgam, Sinthan Pass, Shupiyan-Pir Ki Gali, Sonamarg-Zojila, Bandipora-Razdan Pass, Gulmarg and Kupwara-Sachna Pass),” read the advisory. The weather activity may lead to disruption of surface and air transport including Jammu-Srinagar highway and other major roads of middle and higher reaches of J&K. It urged the people in snow bound areas to avoid venturing into sloppy and Avalanche prone areas. “Chances of landslides, mudslides & shooting stones most likely over the vulnerable areas,” it said, adding, “Farmers are advised to withhold all farm operations during 1st week of March.”
