Relief in Valley as mercury rises to minus 1.4
By IANSSaturday, January 29, 2011
SRINAGAR - People in Kashmir Valley got some relief from the freezing chill of the past two months as the night temperature Friday markedly rose to minus 1.4 degrees Celsius, the weatherman said Saturday.
The core of the winter season - ‘Chillai Kalan’ - will end Sunday. The 40-day-long period this year was one of the most bitter in Kashmir’s history.
The period saw at least two heavy snowfalls, the region frozen with sub-zero temperatures, which is visible even now on the ground and on rooftops across the Valley.
The mountains girdling the Valley are cloaked in a white blanket. The icicles are still hanging from the roof edges even in the capital city making this winter season a memorable one for reasons both dark and bright.
While the chill brought with itself miseries of intense cold, diseases that come in its trail and darkness as the electricity supply snapped more often than it stayed, the bright side is that the heavy snowfall replenished the diminished Valley glacier resources and refilled the ground water to the delight of farmers and horticulturists.
The orchardists are predicting a bumper fruit crop in the Valley following the snowfalls.
