Higher reaches receive fresh snowfall, snow and rain lashes plains in Kashmir.
Higher reaches in Kashmir Tuesday experienced fresh spell of snowfall, while rains lashed plains. The Meteorological Department is expecting improvement in prevailing weather conditions from Wednesday afternoon onward, officials said.
Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded 4 inches of fresh snowfall on Tuesday, while 3-4 inches were recorded in Gurez. 3-4 inches of snowfall was recorded in Machil sector, 4-7 inches at Sonamarg, and 4-6 inches at a few spots along Zojila-Drass highway.
Most areas in the plains were lashed by rains on Tuesday which continued till late evening. Rains also triggered waterlogging in low lying areas of Srinagar city and other towns.
The weatherman has forecasted dry and clear weather for next week and ruled out any major weather change by the end of this month.
Director Meteorological Department Kashmir, Sonam Lotus told Rising Kashmir that as forecasted higher reaches witnessed moderate to heavy snowfall from Monday late night and continued till Tuesday.
"We are expecting improvement in prevailing weather conditions from Wednesday onward. Mainly dry weather is expected from Feb 24 onward till ending of this month," he said.
Lotus said there is no forecast of any major snow spell till ending February.
Owing to the cloud cover, the minimum temperature improved across the valley on Tuesday night and settled above the freezing point at most places.
Srinagar recorded a low of 3.8 degrees Celsius on Tuesday night. Pahalgam recorded a low of 2.2 degrees Celsius and Kupwara in north Kashmir settled at a low of 1.2 degrees Celsius.
Qazigund recorded 2.2 degrees Celsius, while Kokernag recorded a low of minus 0.1 degrees Celsius.
Gulmarg was the only place in the valley where the minimum stayed below the freezing point as it registered a low of minus 5.0 degrees Celsius.
As per the advisory issued by the Traffic Department for Wednesday, subject to fair weather and better road conditions LMVs (passenger)/ private cars shall be allowed on both sides on Srinagar- Jammu highway. TCU Srinagar shall liaise with TCU Ramban before releasing the traffic," it said.