Leh, Kargil freeze, cold wave on in Srinagar

SRINAGAR - No respite from the harsh weather was in sight Monday for millions of residents in Kashmir Valley as an unusually long dry and cold spell continued, forcing temperatures to go below the freezing point.

The minimum temperature in Srinagar city was minus 5 degrees Celsius Monday. It was 3 degrees less than normal. The minimum temperature was minus 13.6 degrees in Leh town, minus 10.6 in Kargil, minus 6.6 in Pahalgam and minus 6 in Gulmarg,” M.S. Wani, assistant meteorologist at the weather office here.

As the cold and dry spell is likely to continue here for some days more, the minimum temperatures can fall further during the next two to three days.

The cold wave conditions would continue till we have some precipitation here, but as of now, we do not foresee such a change in weather at least for the next two days, he said.

Most wetlands have frozen here giving a tough time to thousands of migratory birds which spend the winter months in these wetlands of the valley.

Parts of Dal Lake in summer capital Srinagar had also frozen in Monday morning.

Huge flocks of coots were battling frozen waters to manage some food for themselves in the middle of Dal Lake in the morning today. Though the cold does not affect these birds directly, feeding becomes a problem when wetlands freeze, said Nazir Ahmad, 33, a resident of Nishat area in Srinagar.