Srinagar: The weather remained pleasant for the second successive day on Sunday as bright sunshine greeted people in the summer capital, Srinagar, and other parts of Kashmir valley, where the mercury during the night dipped and settled several degrees below normal.
A Met department spokesperson told UNI that the weather mainly remains dry during the next 24 hours in Kashmir. “No large change in weather conditions is expected as skies would remain clear till May 3 in the valley,” he added.
After witnessing below normal night temperature, people woke up to a sunny Sunday morning in Srinagar, where strike restrictions remained imposed as part of the 34-hour-long ‘corona curfew’ announced by administration amid the unabated rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the Union Territory of J&K. The weather remained pleasant throughout the day due to sunshine though the streets remained deserted due to ‘Corona curfew’ in the city, which is recorded the major chunk of COVID-19 cases during the last fortnight. Against 5.4 degrees recorded on Saturday, the night temperature in Srinagar dipped and settled at 4.8 degrees, which is about 4 degrees below normal.
The spokesperson said the skies would be mainly clear during the next 24 hours in Srinagar, where the maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 24 degrees and 6 degrees, respectively.
The weather remained pleasant at the world-famous ski rest of Gulmarg, which was on Sunday deserted for the first time, due to the restrictions, since November, when the tourist arrival picked up following early snowfall. “Tourists have confined themselves to their respective hotels even as the mountains and roads in the ski resort, which received fresh snowfall early this week, were deserted. All the shops and other business establishments are also closed,” an official said.
However, he said the tourists who have bookings in other resorts or have air tickets to leave for their respective states are allowed to move out of the ski resort. The night temperature at the ski resort improved about 5 degrees from Saturday and settled at 1.6 degrees, which is still about 2 degrees below normal.
Despite improvement, the world-famous health resort of Pahalgam, about 100 km from here in south Kashmir, was the only place in the valley where the night temperature settled below normal. Against minus 1.6 degrees recorded on Saturday, the night temperature in the resort settled at minus 0.1 degrees, which is about 4 degrees below normal. However, the weather turned pleasant due to the bright sunshine in the resort, which gave a deserted look due to the restrictions.
The mercury at Qazigund, gateway to the valley, Kupwara in north Kashmir and tourist resort of Kokernag settled at 3.4 degree, 2.7 degree, and 4.1 degrees, respectively.
