Parts of Kashmir of record sub-zero temps; Gulmarg coldest at minus 7.6 deg C
STATE TIMES NEWS
Jammu: The Jammu-Srinagar national highway was open for one-way traffic, while the Mughal road connecting the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri with south Kashmir remained closed for the sixth consecutive day on Sunday, a traffic department official said.
Traffic has been plying from Jammu towards Srinagar since morning. It is going on smoothly though the dense fog, which engulfed most parts of Jammu region earlier in the day, slowed down the movement of vehicles, the official said.
Jawahar Tunnel, the gateway to Kashmir, experienced nine inches of snowfall during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday coupled with multiple landslides triggered by rains between Ramban and Banihal axis forcing closure of the highway on Saturday. However, agencies cleared the highway for one-way traffic from Srinagar to Jammu later in the day.
The traffic on the highway is restricted to one-way during winter months owing to the ongoing work on the four-laning project to allow smooth movement of traffic.
The Mughal road is closed since December 8 due to the recent heavy snowfall in Peer Ki Gali and adjoining areas.
The road along with other high altitude roads usually remains closed during winter months.
Meanwhile, half of the weather stations in Kashmir valley recorded sub-zero night temperatures with the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg being the coldest place in Jammu and Kashmir registering a low of minus 7.6 degrees Celsius.
Pahalgam tourist resort in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 3.2 degrees Celsius, while the night temperature in Kokernag settled at minus 2.3 degrees Celsius.
Officials said the mercury in Srinagar settled at a low of 0.1 degree Celsius. The meteorological office has said the weather is likely to remain mainly dry till December 20 with the possibility of a decrease in night temperature. Meanwhile, authorities have issued a medium danger avalanche warning for the higher reaches of Kupwara and Bandipora districts. A low-level avalanche alert has also been issued for the upper reaches of Poonch, Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar, and Anantnag, Baramulla and Ganderbal districts of Jammu and Kashmir, and Kargil district of Ladakh, officials said.