SRINAGAR – The weather department has predicted another spell of wet weather in the Kashmir Valley from Saturday, even as sun played hide and seek though ice cold winds continued in the summer capital, Srinagar and other parts of the valley on Wednesday.
A Met department spokesperson said that light rain or snow would occur at some places in the valley during the next 24 hours. “The weather will remain dry on Thursday and Friday which would result in improvement in the day temperature though mercury during the night will dip,” he said.
However, he said a fresh Western Disturbance (WD), which originated from the Arabian Sea and is approaching the region though Afghanistan and Pakistan, will hit the region on Saturday.
“Under the influence of this WD, rain and would occur at many places in the valley for the subsequent 72 hours from Saturday,” he added.
After witnessing above normal night temperature, people woke up to a chill Wednesday morning in Srinagar. However, as the day progressed, sun played hide and seek though ice cold winds continued in Srinagar, where people could be seen wearing warm clothes, including jackets, to evade chilly weather condition. Burning of wood on roadsides by mechanics and auto-drivers is a common sight in the city, where the night temperature settled at minus 0.4 degree.
He said the skies will be mainly clear to partly cloudy during the next 24 hours in Srinagar, where the maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 6 degree and minus 4 degree, respectively.
Meanwhile, the night temperature improved and settled above normal at majority of the places due to overcast conditions in the valley.
Drass was the coldest places in the region at minus 10.7 degree, followed by Leh, where the night temperature improved about a degree from Tuesday and settled at minus 9.6 degree.
The world famous ski resort of Gulmarg, where ski slopes are covered under several feet of snow, was the only place in the valley where the mercury dipped about 1.6 degree from Tuesday and settled at minus 7.6 degree. The ski resort was the coldest place in the valley.
Sun played hide and seek though ice cold winds continued in Gulmarg, where tourists, including adventure lovers, were out on the ski slopes enjoying different snow related activities.
The mercury at would famous health resort of Pahalgam, about 100 km from here in south Kashmir, improved about 2 degree from Tuesday and settled at minus 2 degree.
The night temperature at Kupwara in north Kashmir and Qazigund, gateway to the valley, also improved and settled at minus 2.2 degree and minus 0.4 degree, respectively.