Kashmir Valley braces for another spell of Snowfall, Rains

Kashmir is bracing for another spell of heavy snowfall and rain this weekend, Skymet Weather reported Thursday.
The weather portal reported that after a brief respite, famous hill stations of Srinagar, Manali, and Shimla are all set to witness another spell of rain and snowfall on the weekend.
It said the fresh Western Disturbance is approaching Western Himalayas, which is presently marked over Afghanistan and adjoining parts of Pakistan.
“The system is gradually moving in east direction towards Jammu and Kashmir,” it said.
The report said that at present, the region has already started witnessing cloudy sky that has increased the minimum temperatures significantly.
The Western Disturbance will start affecting the weather by the evening of February 3, wherein light rain and snow will commence initially over higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir and isolated parts of Himachal Pradesh, it added.
Meanwhile, night temperature in plains of the Valley registered a remarkable improvement to settle above freezing point but the high altitude areas, which recorded heavy snowfall last month, continue to reel under freezing temperatures, a weather department official said.
He said Leh town registered a low of minus 11.9 degrees Celsius.
In Kargil, the night temperature settled at minus 10.4 degrees Celsius against minus 11.2 of yesterday.
The famous hill resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir registered an improvement of four degrees in the minimum temperature which settled at minus 3 degrees Celsius, the official said.
The famous ski resort of Gulmarg was the coldest recorded place in the Valley after the night temperature plummeted to – 7.6 degrees Celsius.
The official said Srinagar also recorded a dip of one degree in the night temperature which settled at 0.9 degrees Celsius.
The minimum temperature at Qazigund, Kupwara and Kokernag towns registered an improvement to settle at 0.6, 0.5 and 1.5 degrees Celsius, respectively, he added.