Weather to remain erratic till weekend: MeT

Srinagar:  Rain lashed Kashmir Valley and parts of Jammu division, bringing mercury down, even as the local meteorological department here on Thursday said that the ‘erratic weather’ will continue till the weekend.

A meteorological department official told GNS that Srinagar received 3.3mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours till 0830 a.m. while the minimum temperature settled at 7.8°C against 9.4°C on the previous night in the summer capital of J&K. The mercury was 0.2°C above normal for this time of the season, he said.

Qazigund, the gateway town of Kashmir, received 0.8mm of rain and recorded a low of 6.2°C against 7.8°C on the previous night, the official said.

Pahalgam received the highest rainfall of 26.4mm while the famous resort in south Kashmir recorded a minimum of 2.9°C against 4.2°C on the earlier night, he said.

Kokernag, also in south Kashmir, received 3.8mm of rain and recorded a low of 5.5°C against previous night’s 7.5°C, the official said.

Kupwara received 1.0mm of rain while the north Kashmir district recorded a low of 6.6°C against 7.0°C on the previous night, the official said.

Gulmarg, the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir, received 10mm of rain and recorded a low of 0.5°C against minus 2.5°C on the previous night which was 1.5°C, the official said.

Jammu district received 0.0mm of rain, Banihal 0.4mm, Batote 4.4mm, Katra 0.0mm, Banihal 2.6mm and Kathua 0.0mm, the official added.

Director Meteorological department Sonam Lotus said that erratic weather shall continue till the weekend.

“Expect light to moderate rain/snow on higher reaches at many places of Kashmir and at scattered places of Jammu.”

He said rain will be accompanied by thunderstorm, lightning and hail at isolated places.

“During lightning, stay inside any shelter and stay away from trees, metallic wire etc.”

The weather department has also issued ‘yellow warning for “isolated thunder/lightning with gusty wind 30- 40-kmph” for both Jammu and Kashmir divisions till April 18. There are four types of colour codes signifying the level of caution: green which means no action, yellow—situation to be watched), amber –government agencies need to be prepared for severe weather and red –action needed by the agencies.

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