A thick layer of fog engulfed the summer capital in morning disrupting vehicular movement, amid the chilly winter conditions.
Dense fog engulfed the city early in the morning as the visibility dropped to less than 300 metres. This was for the first time in the ongoing Chillai Kallan, the 40-day harsh winter period, that people of Srinagar woke up to thick fog as sun struggled to come out of clouds till late morning.
Early risers used torches to reach the masjids for offering prayers and vehicles were seen with their head lights on to move on the roads in view of poor visibility. However, there was no fog around the airport on the outskirts of the city. As the day advanced, the fog disappeared and sun shone. “It was very difficult to drive vehicle amid thick fog in the morning. The suddent change in weather condition led to traffic jams at many places,” said Shabir Ahmad, a commuter.
Srinagar city recorded the coldest night of this winter as the minimum temperature dipped to minus 4.2 degrees Celsius even as the rest of the Kashmir Valley reeled under sub-zero temperatures.
Leh, in the Ladakh region, was the coldest recorded place in the state last night as the minimum temperature settled at minus 8.0 degrees Celsius, followed by nearby Kargil town recording minus 7.1 degrees Celsius, a Meteorological Department said.
Earlier, the lowest this winter was minus 3.8 degrees Celsius recorded on 5 December. The cold wave conditions continued in the rest of Kashmir with all weather stations recording temperatures several degrees below the freezing point.
The official said that the mercury in Qazigund in south Kashmir settled at a low of minus 3.6 degrees Celsius, compared to minus 2.2 degrees Celsius the previous night. Kokernag town recorded a low of minus 2.9 degrees Celsius, down from yesterday's minus 1.8 degrees Celsius, he said.
Kupwara town in north Kashmir registered a low of minus 3.4 degrees Celsius last night, down nearly one degrees from the previous night's minus 2.5 degrees Celsius, the official said.
He said the mercury at the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir settled at a low of minus 5.5 degrees Celsius, almost same as the previous night. The night temperature in Pahalgam, the famous health resort which also serves as one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath Yatra, recorded a low of minus 6.5 degrees Celsius, down more than two degrees from minus 4 degrees Celsius, the official said. The resort was the coldest recorded place in the valley. The MeT office has forecast mainly dry weather in the valley over the next couple of days.