Srinagar: Weather turned pleasant as sun came out much to the delight of the people, improving the maximum temperature, while the mercury during the night also remained above normal at majority of the places in Kashmir.
The border town of Kargil was the coldest place in the region at minus 7.2 degree, followed by ski resort of Gulmarg, where mercury settled at minus 5 degree.
A Met department spokesperson told UNI that weather will remain dry during the next 24 hours in the state.
There was a marginal dip in the night temperature at Leh, where mercury plunged and settled at minus 2.8 degree, against minus 2.6 degree recorded yesterday.
He said sky will be partly cloudy during the next 24 hours at Leh, where maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 8 degree and minus 4 degree.
Gulmarg, which is about 55 km from here in north Kashmir, received 2 inches of fresh snow, resulting in dip in the night temperature. Against minus 4.5 degree recorded yesterday, the night temperature at Gulmarg, where skiing will be officially closed on March 31 for the season, was minus 5 degree, which is 2 degree below normal.
After experiencing chilly weather conditions during the last 2 days due to cloudy skies, the weather is pleasant as sun came out much to the delight of everyone. Tourists, including skiers and adventure lovers, are out on ski slopes on a sunny day, a hotelier told UNI over the phone.
People woke up to a sunny Friday morning in the summer capital, Srinagar, resulting in improvement in the day temperature. The night temperature in the summer capital also witnessed an improvement of 1 degree from yesterday and settled at 4.7 degree, which is about a degree above normal.
The spokesperson told UNI that sky will be partly cloudy during the next 24 hours at Srinagar, where maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 15 degree and 3 degree.
The night temperature at Qazigund, gateway to the Kashmir Valley, on the 300-km-long national highway, dipped and settled at 2.4 degree, against 2.8 degree recorded yesterday.
Meanwhile, Pahalgam, which is about 100 km from here in south Kashmir, received fresh 7 mm of rain over night, resulting in dip in night temperature. Against minus 0.6 degree recorded yesterday, the night temperature at Pahalgam was minus 1.6 degree.
However, there was a marginal improvement in the night temperatures at health resort of Kokernag and Kupwara in north Kashmir. Against 2.8 degree recorded yesterday, the night temperature at Kokernag was 3.5 degree, while mercury surged and settled at 2.7 degree, against 2.2 degree recorded yesterday in Kupwara.
Highway open for one-way only
Only one-way traffic will continue on the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway, the only road linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country.
Today vehicle, including those carrying passengers and trucks loaded with essentials will ply from Jammu to Srinagar, a traffic police official told UNI. All the vehicles had to cross Udhampur before 1130 hrs, he said adding no vehicle will be allowed after the deadline.
However, he said no vehicle will be allowed from Srinagar to Jammu.
Meanwhile, hundreds of empty trucks and oil tankers, which had left after remaining stranded at Qazigund, Anantnag and other places on this side of the Jawahar tunnel for the past about 10 days had reached Jammu till late last night.
Traffic on the highway remained disrupted frequently since first major snowfall on January 6. However, despite working almost round the clock by Border Roads Organisation (BRO), only one-way traffic could be restored on the highway.
However, BRO, responsible for the maintainance of the highway and National High Authority of India (NHAI) have put into service sophisticated machines and men to put through the highway for both ways, the only road linking the Kashmir valley with the rest of the country. Traffic official said that normal two-way traffic on the highway will be resumed only after receiving green signal from BRO and traffic police officials posted at different places.
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