STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: The night temperature across Kashmir division, except in Kargil, continued to stay above freezing point, providing relief to the people, even as the Valley remained engulfed under a thick layer of fog.
Srinagar recorded the minimum temperature of 1.8 degrees Celsius, same as the previous night, an official of the Meteorological Department here said.
Kupwara, in north Kashmir, registered the low of 2.4 degrees Celsius compared to the previous night s 2.1 degrees Celsius. The minimum in Kokernag town in south settled at 3.9 degrees Celsius, an increase of over three degrees from 0.8 degree Celsius on Wednesday, the official said.
The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir registered the low of 1.0 degrees Celsius, same as the previous night, he said, adding Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir Valley recorded the low of 1.6 degrees Celsius.
The official said the hill resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir recorded the minimum of 1.6 degrees Celsius as compared to 1.6 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.
The MeT has forecast light rain or snow at isolated places over the state over the next two days.
He said the night temperature in the Leh town, in Ladakh region, also settled above the freezing point at the low of 0.3 degree Celsius against the previous night s minus 2.2 degrees Celsius.
The nearby Kargil town was the only place in the state where the night temperature settled below the freezing point at minimum of minus 1.5 degrees Celsius against the previous night’s minus 1.8 degrees Celsius, the official said.
The higher reaches of Kashmir received the season’s first snowfall on Monday, but the weather has remained dry since then.
However, a thick layer of fog continued to engulf many areas in the Valley, including in the summer capital here.
Meanwhile, air traffic at Srinagar Airport was affected due to poor visibility which led to the cancellation of flights in the afternoon.
The afternoon air traffic at Srinagar Airport remained suspended today because of poor visibility due to dense fog, but flight operations took place in the morning, Director Airport Authority of India (AAI), Srinagar Airport, Sharad Kumar said. Kumar said the flight operations were normal in the morning as five flights landed at the airport.
Except for a private airline which had already cancelled all flights for the day, there were normal flight operations in the morning today as five flights landed at the airport which then took off as well, he said.
Kumar said there was improved visibility in the morning, but it dropped in the afternoon.
In the morning, the visibility was 1800 metres (1.8 kilometres), so five flights landed at the airport. However, the visibility dropped in the afternoon to below the required 1.3 km, forcing cancellation of the flights, he said.
The official expressed hope of improvement in the visibility tomorrow for the resumption of normal operations at the airport. The air traffic at Srinagar airport remained badly affected due to poor visibility over the past seven days. While all the flights, except two on Saturday, were cancelled, the flight operations improved yesterday as four flights were able to land at the airport in the morning. However, the afternoon flights were cancelled due to poor visibility.
