Kashmir continues to shiver in bone-chilling cold

Cold wave conditions continued unabated in Kashmir Valley owing to the dry weather even as the weatherman predicted some respite next week with the possibility of isolated rains or snowfall.

Leh, in the frontier Ladakh region, was the coldest recorded place in the state with a minimum temperature of -16.2 degree Celsius, same as the previous night, a India Meteorological Department spokesman said.

Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, recorded a low of -4.8 degree Celsius, slightly down from the previous night’s low of -4.2 degrees, the spokesman said.

He said Qazigund, the gateway town to KashmirValley in south, recorded a low of -5.8 degree Celsius, almost a degree down from minus 5.0 degree Celsius the previous night.

The mercury in Pahalgam resort in south Kashmir, which serves as a base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, registered a low of minus 6.6 degrees, slightly down from the previous night’s -6.4 degree Celsius, he said.

The minimum temperature in the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg settled at -3.0 degree Celsius, same as the previous night, the spokesman said.

Image: Kashmiri children warm themselves using traditional fire pots, as they sit outside a on a cold winter morning. Photograph: Danish Ismail/Reuters