Dal Lake freezes as sub-zero temp continues in Kashmir

Owais Gul

Srinagar, Dec 15 : Though the mercury rose in Kashmir parts on Friday, the world famous Dal Lake froze as the night temperatures continued to settle below freezing point across the region.

According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), after recording the season's coldest temperature last night, Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu & Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 3.5 degree Celsius.

Amidst the dry spell, the night chill intensified across the region for the past nearly one month.

The sub-zero temperature has been recorded across all the stations while Qazigund, the gateway of Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 2.8 degree Celsius.

Gulmarg, a famous ski-resort, has recorded a low of minus 3.4 degree Celsius while Pahalgam, a famous tourist place, recorded a minimum temperature of minus 5.0 degree Celsius.

In Kupwara, the mercury settled at minus 4.2 degree Celsius while in Kokernag, a minimum temperature of minus 1.9 degree Celsius was recorded.

However, the dry and cold weather is expected to continue for the next one week as Director Meteorological department (MeT), Dr Mukhtar Ahmad has stated the weather would remain mostly dry and cold at most places of the Union territory till December 24.

On tomorrow, he stated that generally cloudy weather with possibility of light snow over isolated higher reaches is expected in J&K while from December 17-December 24, the weather would remain mainly dry.

Furthermore, he stated that shallow to moderate fog is likely to continue at many places of Kashmir division.

Amidst the persistent dry spell in Kashmir, the parts of Dal Lake were frozen due to the chilly weather conditions here.

The Shikara riders were seen breaking the frozen surface of the water body here this morning to make way for their boats.

Furthermore, Jammu & Kashmir, as per the MeT has recorded excess rainfall since October 01 to December 13 here while Bandipora is the only place where 30 per cent deficient rainfall was recorded during the period.

According t0oo the data, six places including Srinagar, Baramulla, Budgam, Ganderbal, Kulgam and Kupwara have recorded normal precipitation during the period—(KNO)