As the winter settles in, the night temperature in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar dropped below zero on Wednesday, officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Meteorologist M. Hussain Mir said the mercury dropped to minus 0.8 degrees Celsius in Srinagar for the first time this winter.
According to IMD, apart from Kokernag, parts of Kashmir valley experienced temperatures below freezing point during the night.
“It went below zero this night settling at minus 0.8 degrees Celsius. The previous night, it was at 0.2 degrees,” said Hussain Mir.
Shahid Ahmad, a school bus driver said the cold affected the students’ overall attendance going to school.
“Half of the students who travel on my bus stayed home. Parents told me the children are suffering from cold and cough. Even adults are feeling the intense cold,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Pahalgam, which is among the most popular tourist destination in Kashmir, the temperature dropped to minus 4.8 degrees Celsius while the ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir hit minus 3.8 degrees Celsius. Kupwara recorded minus 2.9 degrees Celsius, Qazigund minus 1.6 degrees and 0.3 degrees Celsius in Kokernag.
Ladakh’s Drass witnessed a minimum of minus 13.5 degrees Celsius and Leh minus 9.6 degrees Celsius.
According to IMD, the weather will remain mostly dry till the end of this month. “Dry weather is expected for the next one week. No forecast of any major snow spell till November end,” said an official.
Notably, in Delhi, the minimum temperature on Wednesday is likely to be at 9°C while the maximum temperature is predicted to reach 26°C.