KASHMIR VALLEY RECEIVES SEASON’S FIRST SNOWFALL

Srinagar: The upper reaches of Valley Friday received season’s first snowfall while the plains were lashed by heavy rains bringing down the day temperature sharply.

Reports and officials told KMW that world famous tourist destination of Gulmarg, Sonmarg and Pahalgham during the intervening night received season’s first snowfall. The slopes of Affarwat, Kongdori and Khilanmarg in the ski resort Gulmarg recorded about 3 inches of snow this morning.

Pahalgham in South Kashmir’s Islamabad district recorded about six inches of snow, while Larnoo, Kokernag recorded four inches of snow as the minimum temperature was recorded 0.3 degree Celsius this morning. The maximum temperature in Pahalgham was recorded at 4.2 while the minimum was 0.4 degree Celsius.

Sonmarg recorded 4 inches while Baltal recorded around 8 inches of snow.

The holy Amarnth cave and its periphery and Mahaguns, Pissu top, Sheeshnag and Panjtarni also experienced fresh snowfall since last evening, officials told PBI.

Dajjan area of South Kashmir’s Shopian district, however witnessed heavy snowfall. Around 1.5 feet of snow were recorded in the area this morning.

At Aharbal tourist resort in the district, 3 inches of snow were recorded, while Hirpora and Keller recorded 5 and 4 inches of snow respectively.

In Frontier Kupwara district of North Kashmir, many areas including Keran, Karnah and Gurez witnessed fresh snowfall since last evening.

The 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh national highway remained out of bounds due to heavy snowfall at Zojila, where 11 inches of snow was recorded. At Meenamarg and Randgum, 3 inches of snow were recorded while an inch was recorded at Sankoo, officials said.

“In view of western disturbances, it has been raining throughout the Valley since last night. Shopian, Kulgam, Banihal Tunnel, Qazigund, Kokernag, Pahalgam, Islamabad, Tulail, Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Gund , Kargil and Zojila experienced season’s first snowfall,” Coordinator Disaster Management, Kashmir, Amir Ali said.

“From Saturday noon, the weather is likely to improve,” he added.

Meanwhile, heavy rains lashed plains, including Srinagar, the capital city, resulting in water logging at many places. Srinagar recorded maximum temperature of 8.5 degree Celsius and minimum 3.6.

Meteorological department officials told KMW that rains and snow is likely to occur at many places across Kashmir valley in the next 24 hours. The official said that Srinagar witnessed 9 mm of rains till Friday evening, while Qazigund recorded 15.6 mm and Kokernag witnessed 13.4 mm rains.