Srinagar: Cold conditions returned to Kashmir Friday after two days of respite as the night temperature at most places in the valley settled below the freezing point, officials said.
Kokernag town in south Kashmir was the only recorded place where the minimum temperature stayed above the freezing point.
Srinagar recorded a low of minus 1.3 degrees Celsius on Thursday night, 1.7 degrees down from 0.4 degrees Celsius the previous night, the officials said.
They said Pahalgam, which serves as the base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, recorded a low of minus 3.3 degrees Celsius, down from minus 0.2 degrees Celsius on the previous night.
The south Kashmir resort was the coldest recorded place in Kashmir.
Gulmarg resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district recorded a minimum temperature of minus 1.8 degrees Celsius. The MET office has said the weather will most likely remain dry but cold till the end of this month.
The mercury in Kupwara in north Kashmir settled at a low of minus 1.9 degrees Celsius.
Qazigund, the gateway town to the valley, recorded minus 1.2 degrees Celsius.
Kokernag registered a low of 0.6 degrees Celsius.
The MET Office has said the weather is most likely to stay dry but cold over the week ahead.
The wintry conditions in the valley set-in much ahead of the beginning of extreme harsh weather conditions which usually start around the third week of December.
‘Chillai Kalan’, the 40-day period of harsh winter in Kashmir, begins on December 21 every year.
PTI