Srinagar: Parts of famous Dal Lake froze as night temperature in Kashmir valley slipped by several notches with icy winds blowing from the snow bound mountains sweeping to the plains on Friday.
Small rivulets, nallas and streams connecting the interior parts of Dal Lake were covered with a thick layer of frozen ice sheets as cold conditions prevailed in Srinagar with temperature plummeting to minus 3.4 degree Celsius on Friday which is minus 2.1 degree Celsius below normal.
Children were seen breaking the frozen ice surface of the lake in the interior parts and having fun.
Dal Lake is surrounded with high snowclad mountains from where the cold wind blows to the plains making life difficult especially for the inhabitants and the houseboat men living on the lake.
Kashmir valley including Srinagar recently experienced moderate to heavy snowfall resulting in further drop in night temperature and sweeping icy cold winds all across.
Meanwhile, Cold conditions intensified in Kashmir and Ladakh as night temperature slipped down several notches below freezing point.
Drass, in Ladakh, the second coldest place in the world after Siberia recorded a low of minus 23.8 and the Ski resort of Gulmarg in Kashmir witnessed a low of minus 10.5 degree Celsius.
A Meteorological Department official said that Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir after showing slight improvement on Thursday plunged to minus 3.4 degree Celsius against the minus 2.7 degree Celsius which was minus 1.2 degree below normal during this time of the season, he said.
The famous ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir remained the coldest place in the Kashmir valley even after showing a slight improvement at minus 10.5 degree Celsius against the minus 11.0 degree Celsius recorded on Thursday which is minus 2.6 degree below normal during this period of season.
Pahalgam, the famous tourist resort in south Kashmir also dipped to minus 10.3 degree Celsius against minus 9.4 degree Celsius recorded the previous day.
Qazigund on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway slipped to a low of minus 7.8 degree Celsius against minus 5.8 degree Celsius recorded the previous day which was minus 4.8 degree below normal during this period of the season.
Kokernag, also in south Kashmir recorded plunged to minus 7.5 degree Celsius against the minus 6.1 degree Celsius on Thursday, minus 2.5 degree below normal during this time of season.
The night temperature in frontier Kashmir district of Kupwara also slipped down to minus 4.2 degree Celsius against minus 2.5 degree Celsius recorded on Thursday.
Leh in Ladakh recorded a low of minus 13.9 degree Celsius against minus 15.5 degree Celsius recorded the previous day while the mercury at the automatic station in Kargil plummeted to minus 19.9 degree Celsius against the minus 16.9 degree Celsius recorded a day ago while, Drass recorded a low of minus 23.8 degree Celsius against minus 21.9 degree Celsius, the official said. (UNI)
