Fresh snowfall in parts of Kashmir

Srinagar: Most parts of Kashmir received fresh snowfall on Wednesday, resulting in significant improvement in the minimum temperature across the valley and providing huge relief to residents, officials said.

The snowfall began during the night and continued at many places when last reports came in, the officials said.

The snowfall affected the flight operations at Srinagar airport in the morning, causing some flight delays.

The flight operations were hampered due to the accumulation of snow on the runway and poor visibility due to the bad weather.

The MET Office said the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg, in north Kashmir, received about six inches of fresh snowfall, while Kupwara, also in the north, recorded about three inches.

Other places, including Srinagar, experienced very light snowfall, the officials said.

They said there are reports of fresh snowfall in many other areas in the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir.

The fresh snowfall, however, did not affect the movement of traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

An official of the traffic control room said the highway was through for one-way traffic from Srinagar towards Jammu.

The minimum temperature across the valley rose significantly on Tuesday night, providing huge relief to residents.

Srinagar recorded a low of minus 0.4 degrees Celsius last night over four degrees up from the previous night's minus 4.6 degrees Celsius.

Pahalgam tourist resort, which also serves as a base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra in south Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 3.9 degrees Celsius over five degrees down from the previous night's minus



9.3 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature at the Gulmarg skiing resort, in north Kashmir's Baramulla district, settled at minus 5.2 degrees Celsius last night up from minus 7 degrees Celsius the previous night.

The resort was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir.

Qazigund the gateway town to the valley recorded a minimum of 2.8 degrees Celsius up from minus 4.5 degrees Celsius the previous night, they said.

Kupwara town, in north Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 1.2 degrees Celsius, while Kokernag, in the south, minus 4.5 degrees Celsius.

The MET Office has forecast the possibility of light to moderate snow/rain at scattered to fairly-widespread places of J-K till Thursday.

 The air traffic to and fro Kashmir was affected on Wednesday due to bad weather as most parts of the valley received fresh snowfall, officials said.

The snowfall began during the night and continued at many places when last reports came in, the officials said.

The snowfall affected the flight operations at Srinagar airport in the morning, delaying several flights.

Flight operations were hampered due to accumulation of snow on the runway and poor visibility due to bad weather, the officials said.

While the runway was cleared of snow, the visibility was low about 800 metres -- for the flight operations to take place, they said.

The officials said the decision on the resumption of the operations at the airport would be taken after the weather improves.

However, they said, the bad weather caused flight delays and many flights have been rescheduled.