IN PIX: Less snow, power outages spoil the winters for Kashmiris

The cold wave conditions are likely to intensify across the Kashmir Valley as the weather is expected to remain dry for another week.

“The weather is likely to remain dry in the Valley in next one week,” director of the local MET office Sonam Lotus told Rediff.com on Tuesday.

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Capital Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of minus 2.6 degrees Celsius on Monday night while the minimum temperature in north Kashmir’s health resort of Gulmarg remained 0.8 degrees Celsius.

In the south Kashmir’s Pahalgam, the mercury settled at minus 3.8 degrees Celsius on Monday night.

Kashmir’s mainland has been snow less since winter made the landfall creating dry weather conditions leading to several ailments mainly respiratory problems.

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Last month the upper reaches of the Valley received season’s first snowfall which was mild. Gulmarg had also received the season’s first snowfall last month.

As such less snowfall has led to a sharp decline in the number of tourists coming to Kashmir this year.

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Meanwhile, the MET office had predicted rain and snow early this week for the Valley. The forecast, however, didn’t come true as the valley continued to reel under the cold wave conditions.

The local residents are making preparations to meet the winter challenges stocking up charcoal, fire wood. There’s also a notable surge in buying warm clothing.

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The winter has brought the chronic power woes to the fore and protests are being held almost everyday across the Valley against the unscheduled outages.

The power department has notified the schedule of power in the Kashmir which, however, is not being adhered to, according to local residents.

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The department, however, says that it was supplying more power than previous year and blames power theft for the shortages.