STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: The air traffic at Srinagar airport was suspended on Friday due to poor visibility as a dense layer of fog engulfed the city as well as some other areas of the Valley.
All flights to and fro Srinagar airport were cancelled due to poor visibility, Director, Airports Authority of India (AII) (Srinagar airport), Sharad Kumar said here.
He said no air traffic could take place due to dense fog which affected the visibility.
The requirement (for landing and take-off) is 1.3 km, while it was only about 600-800 mt, Kumar said.
He said the poor visibility has affected the air traffic at the airport since Thursday.
Though the morning operations went on well yesterday, all the flights in the afternoon had to be cancelled due to poor visibility, he added.
Meanwhile, most places in Kashmir continued to reel under intense cold with the night temperature staying below the freezing point, while Kargil town in Ladakh region registered the season’s coldest night at minus 9.2 degrees Celsius.
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 2.5 degrees Celsius – four degrees below normal during this part of the season, an official of the Meteorological Department here said, adding it was, however, a slight improvement from yesterday’s minus 2.7 degrees Celsius. Kargil was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir as it witnessed the lowest night temperature of the season so far, the official said.
Its nearby Leh town also shivered at minus 8.4 degrees Celsius as the cold wave has hit the region owing to a prolonged dry spell.
The minimum in Kupwara, in north Kashmir, also rose from minus 2.7 degrees Celsius yesterday to settle at minus 2.3 degrees Celsius, while Kokernag town in south was the only recorded place in the Valley where the night temperature remained above freezing point at 0.5 degree Celsius.
The official said the hill resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir recorded the minimum of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius, making it the coldest place in the Valley.
The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir registered the low of minus 0.4 degrees Celsius against on Thursday’s minus 0.6 degrees Celsius, he said.
The minimum temperature in the south Kashmir town of Qazigund was minus 2.2 degrees Celsius – same as that of the previous night. The official forecast mainly dry weather till November 20 but predicted light rainfall the next day.
