STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: The nearly 300-km long Srinagar- Jammu National Highway, connecting Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country, was thrown open for one-way traffic, three days after heavy snowfall led to its closure on Monday.
“Traffic has been allowed to ply on the national highway after the road was cleared off snow yesterday,” an official of the Traffic Department here said.
He said only one-way traffic was allowed to ply on the highway on Wednesday. “While the stranded vehicles were cleared yesterday, this morning, one-way traffic from Jammu was allowed to ply,” the official said.
Meanwhile, there was slight snowfall and rain across Kashmir during the night and the minimum temperature at most places in the Valley went down.
Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, recorded a minimum of minus 3.3 degrees Celsius compared to the previous night’s minus 2.5 degrees Celsius, an official of the Meteorological Department said here.
He said Qazigund–the gateway town to Kashmir Valley–in the south registered a low of minus 2.4 degrees Celsius, while Kokernag recorded a low of minus 1.7 degrees Celsius.
The famous resort of Pahalgam, which serves as a Base Camp for the annual Amarnath Yatra, recorded a low of minus 12.4 degrees Celsius, a decrease of over eight degrees from previous night’s minus 4 degrees Celsius, the official said.
The 40-day spell is followed by a 20-day long ‘Chillai- Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day long ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold).
The MeT office has forecast light rains or snow at few places in the State over the next 24 hours. It said the weather would improve from today and would stay as such till 21st January.
“From 22 to 26 evening or 27 morning, there is a possibility of another spell of rains or snow as the region will be hit by a fresh western disturbance on 22nd January,” a MeT official said.
