Light snowfall expected in Kashmir Thursday

SRINAGAR - Intense cold wave conditions continued to prevail in Jammu and Kashmir Tuesday and the weather office has forecast light snowfall in the valley two days later.

“We can expect a light snowfall in the Kashmir Valley Dec 30. This will break the cycle of cold wave under which the valley has been reeling for the past two months,” said M.S. Wani, assistant meteorologist at the local weather office here.

He said the minimum temperature in Srinagar was minus 5.9 degrees.

In Leh town, the minimum temperature was minus 16 degrees, in Kargil it was minus 12 degrees, in Pahalgam it was minus 6.4 degrees and at the ski resort of Gulmarg it was minus 6 degrees,” Wani said.

The cold dry conditions have continued in the valley for over two months and “due to this we have been receiving a lot of patients suffering from respiratory infections”, said Abdul Rashid, a general practitioner here.

If the current spell is broken by rain or snowfall, the incidence of respiratory infections will come down,” he said.

The weather office said a western disturbance was approaching. It was reported over Iran Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Dal Lake in Srinagar city continued to remain frozen as more areas inside the Lake came under the freeze Tuesday.

At some places the Lake waters are solid frozen and the freeze appears to be at least some feet strong. This has made the movement of boats very difficult inside the Lake,” said 72-year-old houseboat owner Abdul Salam.

Since a large number of people live in houseboats in the Dal Lake, their movement around for shopping for essential commodities or for selling flowers and handicrafts is conducted with shikara, the Kashmiri paddle boat.