SRINAGAR, April 8: Fresh snowfall in the upper reaches and rainfall across the plains disrupted normal life in parts of Kashmir on Wednesday, sending temperatures plunging further as the Valley remained in the grip of an extended cold spell, officials said.
An official told Kashmir Convener, snowfall was recorded in the higher altitudes of Gurez, Tulail and Razdan Top in north Kashmir, as well as Sonamarg and Gulmarg, while rain lashed the plains, including Srinagar and parts of north and south Kashmir.
The region continued to reel under below-normal temperatures, with Srinagar recording a maximum of 11.8°C — nearly 7°C below normal — while the minimum settled at 8.8°C, slightly above normal, according to the Meteorological Department.
Most stations, including Qazigund, Pahalgam, Kupwara and Gulmarg, reported significant departures in day temperatures. Light to moderate rainfall was recorded across parts of the Valley, with Gulmarg receiving 8.2 mm and Kupwara 5.8 mm in the last 24 hours.
Jammu recorded a maximum of 24.0°C, around 6°C below normal, with trace rainfall during the day but 42.1 mm in the preceding 24 hours. Relative humidity remained high across the region, touching up to 98 per cent in Kupwara.
The Meteorological Centre Srinagar said erratic weather conditions are likely to persist across Jammu and Kashmir till April 10, with generally cloudy skies and intermittent light to moderate rain and snowfall over higher reaches expected.
The MeT department said scattered areas may witness brief spells of light rain or thundershowers on April 9 and 10, while April 11 and 12 are likely to remain partly cloudy with light rain at isolated places. Dry weather is expected from April 13 to 14, followed by generally cloudy conditions with light rain at a few places on April 15 and 16.
The department has issued an advisory warning of thunder, hailstorms and gusty winds of 40-50 kmph at isolated places, along with the possibility of landslides in vulnerable areas. Farmers have been advised to resume operations from Wednesday, with a gradual rise in day temperatures by 4-6 degrees Celsius expected over the next few days.
Meanwhile, Amid a lack of a safety net for apple farmers of the Valley, growers say they have little option but to bear the brunt of climate shocks.
A hailstorm on earlier this week spelt doom for dozens of apple-rich villages across south and north Kashmir, leaving thousands of farmers distraught.
Umar Rashid, a farmer from south Kashmir, said a sudden hailstorm battered his entire village earlier this week.
According to him, pea-sized hailstones pelted apple orchards for nearly 20 to 25 minutes.
The hailstorm struck just as orchards were in full bloom, knocking delicate blossoms off trees and carpeting the ground with white petals tinged with pink — a critical loss that could sharply reduce fruit yield.
“It is a recurring phenomenon. We have been witnessing such untimely weather events for the past several years, and each time they hit at a crucial stage of flowering, the losses are severe,” several affected orchardists said.
Compensation currently provided to affected growers ranges between ₹800 and ₹1,000 per kanal, which farmers said is far below the actual damage incurred.
The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), introduced in 2016 to provide financial protection against natural calamities, has yet to be implemented in Jammu and Kashmir. Although tenders have been floated multiple times to bring insurers on board for the horticulture sector, the response has remained lukewarm.
However, the government, in the last Assembly session, informed the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly that two insurers — Agriculture Insurance Company of India and Tata AIG General Insurance — had emerged as the lowest bidders to implement the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme for apple and saffron crops.
In a written reply to a starred question by a legislator, the government said the tendering process had been completed and allotment of work to the selected insurers was underway.
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