Cold wave freezes Kashmir, Leh minus 12.6

SRINAGAR - Chilly winds and freezing temperatures continued in the Kashmir Valley and the Ladakh region Sunday. Leh was a chilling minus 12.6 degrees Celsius while Srinagar saw thick fog.

“The minimum temperature in Srinagar was minus 3.1 degrees Celsius today (Sunday),” an official of the weather office told IANS.

“It was minus 12.6 in Leh and minus 10.2 in Kargil town of Ladakh region,” he said.

“The temperature dipped to minus 4.2 in the ski resort of Gulmarg while it was minus 5.8 in the Pahalgam hill station” he said.

The weather official the cold spell would continue in the coming days.

“It is expected to remain cold and dry across the Valley and the Ladakh region for the next couple of days.”

Many sports lovers who throng Gulmarg during the winter months for skiing, snow boarding, ice skating and other winter sports have been disappointed so far as the slopes in this popular ski resort haven’t yet got enough snow to support the winter sports.

“Gulmarg has always been the choice location for Christmas holidays, but this year we did not have a white Christmas although many people had come to celebrate Christmas here,” said Shabir Ahmad, a ski instructor at Gulmarg.

There was a thick fog cover in Srinagar in the morning and motorists had to use headlights and horns to drive safely.

Most parts of the Dal Lake in Srinagar are frozen, making movement of boats difficult in the lake.