Marginal improvement in Kashmir weather

SRINAGAR - A nightlong cloud cover brought some respite to people in Jammu and Kashmir as the minimum temperature in summer capital Srinagar and other places rose marginally. Rain and light snowfall is likely in the valley at night.

“Because of the cloud cover during the night, the minimum temperature rose from Tuesday’s minus 5.9 to minus 3.2 degrees Celsius Wednesday,” said M.S. Wani, assistant meteorologist at the local weather office.

“The minimum temperature was minus 13 degrees Celsius in Leh town and minus 12.2 degrees in Kargil town of Ladakh region. In south Kashmir’s Pahalgam, a hill station, the minimum was minus 3.6 and at the ski resort of Gulmarg it was minus 5.2 degrees,” he said.

The minimum temperatures Tuesday in these places were minus 16 degrees, minus 12 degrees, minus 6.4 degrees and six degrees respectively.

A western disturbance is likely to result in rain and light snowfall in the valley Wednesday night and Thursday, he said.

“This will break the present cold wave, which has been lashing the valley for a fortnight now,” the meteorologist said.

The narrowing of the range between the maximum and the minimum temperatures added to the chill factor during the last week here.

“The maximum temperature in Srinagar was 4.6 degrees Tuesday, but we are expecting the maximum temperature to rise to around 10 degrees Wednesday, which will also help break the cold spell here,” the official said.

Because of the intense cold, most locals preferred to remain indoors and traffic on the city roads was light in the morning.