Srinagar, Jan 8: Weather turned pleasant as bright sunshine greeted people on Friday even as icy winds continued in the summer capital, Srinagar, and other parts of Kashmir valley, where the night chill intensified due to open skies.
Meanwhile, despite major improvement in the weather conditions, life continued to remain crippled in Srinagar for the sixth successive day on Friday as majority of the interior roads, link roads and by-lanes remained under snow, adversely affecting pedestrian and vehicular movement.
A Met department spokesperson told UNI that very light snow could occur during the next 24 hours at isolate places in the valley. “The weather will remain dry for about a week from Sunday onwards. Dry weather would results in further dip in the night temperature though the mercury during the day is expected to improve,” he added.
World famous ski resort of Gulmarg, about 55 km from here in north Kashmir, was the coldest place in the valley even as the mercury about 2 degree from Thursday and settled at minus 10 degree, which is over 2 degree below normal. Gulmarg, where the ski slopes are under several feet of snow, was the only place in the valley where the night temperature settled below normal.
“Despite chilly weather conditions, tourists were out on ski slopes enjoying different snow related activities. The footfall of tourist since Christmas has increased in the Gulmarg due to early snowfall. Most of the hotels are booked and tourists, particularly adventure sports lovers, including skiers, are thronging the resort,” a hotelier from Gulmarg told UNI over the phone.
After witnessing above normal night temperature, people woke up to a chilly Friday morning in this summer capital. However, as the day progressed, the sun came out, improving the day temperature, though cold winds continued. Against minus 0.8 degree recorded on Thursday, the night temperature in the city was minus 0.4 degree, which is 1.5 degree above normal.
However, people continued to suffer as some areas continued to remain under darkness while others witnessed frequent power cuts in the city, where people alleged that garbage has not been picked up by Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) from last over six days. Most of the private vehicles remained off the roads since Tuesday afternoon as snow has not been cleared from interior roads, link-roads and bylanes, exposing authorities, who despite tall claimed have not been able deliver after the city received about 2 feet of snow earlier this week.
The night temperature at world famous health resort of Pahalgam, which received about 2 feet of fresh snowfall earlier this week, dipped and settled at minus 3.3 degree, against minus 2.5 degree recorded on Thursday. The temperature recorded in the health resort was about 4 degree above normal.
The mercury at Qazigund, gateway to the valley, Kupwara in north Kashmir and tourist resort of Kokernag settled at minus 1.8 degrees, minus 1.7 degrees and minus 1.6 degrees, respectively.