Fresh snowfall shuts strategic Mughal Road

Srinagar, Nov 24: The higher reaches of Kashmir valley experienced a fresh snowfall while some plains received rains resulting in closure of several strategic roads on Sunday, officials said.

The historical Mughal road connecting south Kashmir’s Shopian district with the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri in  Jammu division, was closed for vehicular traffic as a precautionary measure following the snowfall on Peer Ki Gali on Sunday, traffic police officials said.

Gurez-Bandipora road was also shut for vehicular traffic due to accumulation of snowfall on the Razdan top and other connected roads of the north Kashmir district. The traffic on Sonamarg-Kargil road has also been suspended due to slippery conditions, they said.

The overnight snowfall covered the ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir Baramulla district in a white blanket, much to the delight of the tourists staying there.

Reports of snowfall were received from Karnah in frontier Kashmir district of Kupwara. Leh in the Union Territory of Ladakh also received the season’s first snowfall on Sunday.

Barring the picnic spot of Kokernag in south Kashmir the day temperature marginally dropped and recorded below normal at all the weather stations of the valley on Saturday. Srinagar recorded the maximum temperature at 12.3°C and it was 1.6°C below normal on the previous day.

The minimum temperature recorded during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday at various Kashmir weather stations was 2 to 6°C above normal except at Gulmarg.

Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 1.5°C and it was 0.4°C above normal for the valley of meadows during this period of the season.

The Meteorological Centre Srinagar predicted that the weather generally will remain cloudy with the possibility of light rain/light snow over higher reaches and at isolated places till forenoon today.

The weather is likely to remain generally dry till the end of November.

Another Western Disturbance (WD) is likely to hit on December 1 may cause light rain and light snow over the higher reaches and at the scattered to fairly widespread places during the late night of November 30 to forenoon of December 1, the MeT office said.

The weather will generally remain dry till December 5, they added.