Srinagar, Feb 5 : Weather department on Sunday forecast fairly widespread light snow on February 6 in Jammu and Kashmir. A meteorological department official here told GNS partly cloudy weather was expected on February 7-8. “Light to moderate snow/rain was expected at many places during February 9 (night) -11th,” the official said. Meanwhile amid cloud cover, the minimum temperature saw further increase except at a few places with Srinagar recording a low of 1.8°C against minus 0.4°C on the previous night. Today’s minimum temperature, he said, was above normal by 2.2°C for the summer capital. Qazigund, he said, recorded a low of minus o.4°C against minus 3.0°C on the previous night and it was 1.1°C above normal for the gateway town of Kashmir. Pahalgam, he said, recorded a low of 5.4°C against minus 0.9°C on the previous night and it was 0.8°C above normal for the famous tourist resort in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. Kokernag recorded a low of minus 0.0°C against minus 1.8°C on the previous night and it was 2.0°C above normal for the place, the officials said. Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 6.4°C against minus 5.5°C on the previous night and it was 0.3°C above normal for the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, he said. In Kupwara town, he said, the mercury settled at 2.9°C against minus 1.8°C on the previous night and it was 4.9°C above normal for the north Kashmir area. Jammu recorded a low of 8.3°C against 8.9°C °C on the previous night. It was 1.2°C below normal for J&K’s winter capital, he said. Banihal, he said, recorded a low of 2.2°C (above normal by 1.2°C), Batote 3.8°C (above normal by 1.6°C), Katra 9.1°C (1.7°C above normal) and Bhadarwah 2.2°C (2.5°C above normal). Ladakh’s Leh and Kargil recorded a low of minus 10.8°C and minus 15.4°C respectively, the official said. While Chillai-Kalan, the 40-day long harsh winter period that started on December 21 has ended, Kashmir is under the grip of a 20-day-long period called ‘Chillai-Khurd’. It will be followed by a 10-day-long period ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold) which is from February 20 to March 1.
