SRINAGAR, Mar 3: The higher reaches of Kashmir Valley, including the tourist spots of Gulmarg and Pahalgam, received a fresh snowfall while plains were lashed by rains on Monday.
The Meteorological Centre Srinagar said that the ski resort of Gulmarg in the north Kashmir Baramulla district received 10.0 cm of snowfall, Pahalgam 3.5 cm, and the frontier Kashmir district of Kupwara 2.5cm of fresh snowfall on Monday.Srinagar and other parts of the Kashmir Valley received light rainfall since morning. The highest precipitation was recorded at Gulmarg (10.2 mm) and Kupwara (10.4 mm) till 0830 hours today. Srinagar received 1.9mm of rainfall since morning, and the precipitation is continuing.
The MeT office forecast of light to moderate rain and snow over the higher reaches at most places, while a few higher reaches of north and central Kashmir may receive moderate to heavy snowfall today.
“The plains of the Kashmir valley will experience rain showers; however, a spell of snowfall in a few plains can’t be ruled out,” an independent weather forecaster, Faizan Arif, said.
The weather will generally remain dry from March 4 to 9, while another fresh spell of rain and snow is possible from March 10 to 13 over Jammu and Kashmir.
The MeT office has also issued an advisory urging tourists, travellers, and transporters to follow the Admin/Traffic advisory in view of inclement weather.
It has also advised farmers to suspend irrigation and other farm operations till March 4 and urged people living in higher reaches to avoid sloppy and avalanche-prone areas while travelling.
The night temperature recorded during the intervening night of Sunday and Monday witnessed an uptick in all weather stations of the Kashmir Valley.
Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, recorded a low of 4.9°C against the 2.3°C the previous night, and this was 2.4°C above the average during this period of season.
The ski resort of Gulmarg remained the coldest place even though the night temperature increased and was recorded at -4.3°C against the -7.5°C the previous night. It was 0.1°C above normal for the ski resort of north Kashmir.
Pahalgam had a low of -0.8°C against the -4.7°C, and this was 1.2°C above normal for the valley of shepherds in south Kashmir, the MeT office said.
