Early winter chill in J&K; upper reaches receive fresh snowfall,  rains lash plains

 

Bandipora-Gurez, Mughal Road among several roads closed for vehicular movement; Weatherman predicts improvement from tomorrow, says weather to remain dry till Oct 24

 

Srinagar, Oct 16  : Under the influence of Western Disturbance, several parts of Kashmir experienced fresh snowfall while rains lashed plains of Jammu & Kashmir on Monday, resulting in significant dip in the mercury across the Union Territory. The fresh wet spell also led to the closure of several roads as well.

According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), rains lashed plains of J&K since the wee hours of this morning.

Many areas in the higher reaches of J&K including Afarwat area of Gulmarg, Sinthan Top, Bhaderwah, Mughal Road in Poonch, Gurez in Bandipora and other places received fresh snowfall today.

As per the details, six inches of snowfall was recorded at Sinthan Top and Afarwat area of Gulmarg till this evening.

With the fresh precipitation, the temperature has plummeted across J&K including Srinagar where 12.8 degree Celsius was recorded today compared to 22.0 degree Celsius on Sunday.

In Pahalgam, the mercury settled at 9.3 degree Celsius today compared to 15.9 degree Celsius yesterday while Kokernag recorded 10.4 degree Celsius compared to 21.2 degree Celsius on Monday.

In Kupwara and Anantnag, there was a dip of 11 degree Celsius compared to yesterday while Jammu recorded a maximum temperature of 20.9 degree Celsius today compared to 30.5 degree Celsius on Monday.

Moreover, Deputy Director of Meteorological department, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad told KNO that the intermittent rainfall and snowfall is expected till late night while the overall improvement in the weather conditions is expected from tomorrow afternoon.

“There is no forecast of any major wet spell across J&K so far. From tomorrow afternoon, the weather will remain dry till October 24,” Deputy Director MeT further said.

The fresh wet spell has led to the closure of many roads as the fresh precipitation triggered slippery conditions of the roads at different places.

In wake of the fresh snowfall, the authorities decided to suspend vehicular movement along Bandipora-Gurez road as a precautionary measure.

Sinthan Top-Kishtwar road has also been closed for the traffic movement after the fresh snowfall triggered slippery conditions of the road.

The Margan as well as the Mughal Roads have been closed by the authorities after the fresh precipitation today.

Some other roads including Srinagar-Jammu highway and Zojila road were closed temporarily and were restored for vehicular movement after clearing the roads.

Moreover, the advisory has been issued by a local MeT department here, asking the farmers to postpone harvesting of crops till tomorrow.

It added that the fresh wet spell would also temporarily disrupt transportation especially at vulnerable places like Zojila, Mughal Road, Sinthan Top, Sadnatop and other places.

In Kupwara, Deputy Commissioner has issued a fresh advisory, asking people living in Keran, Karnah, Machil, Budnamal, Jumugund, Nowgam, Kumkadi and those living near the periphery of different Nallahs, rivers, which are prone to sliding and flash floods, not to venture in these areas till the improvement in weather conditions—(KNO)