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The dry and hot spell in Kashmir seems to be ending as the valley for the second time this week has received snowfall over higher reaches of Gulmarg.
A senior Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) official Mukthar Ahmad told Ground Report that after the first snowfall earlier this week in the higher reaches of Daksum area of Kokernag in South Kashmir, higher reaches of Gulmarg received the season’s first snowfall, and that mercury recorded 15°C which was 3°C lower than yesterday.
According to the weather officials, there was an arrival of “feeble” western disturbances but there is “No” active WD as of now until the end of September.
In an information released by the IMD’s weather station in Kashmir, they said that on Sunday there was the season’s first snowfall over higher reaches of Gulmarg.
The weather officials have forecasted mainly dry weather from 26 to 30 September but they too have forecasted “likely” rain/snow at a few places and light snow over isolated higher reaches of northwest Kashmir tonight.
Notably, the valley has been grappling with the hot weather conditions this summer with water volume in the water bodies going down by 75%.
The hot weather conditions this summer witnessed such a significant drop in the water level in the river Jhelum that it’s shores became visible with distressing pictures of houseboats on it’s dry shores.
The partial drying up of water bodies has left the local population in a state of perplexity and despair as the dry weather conditions have invited water scarcity in the region.
Relying heavily on precipitation as its primary water source, Kashmir over the past few years has witnessed a significant decline in rainfall patterns, leading to a prolonged dry spell.
Srinagar earlier this month too recorded the season’s second-highest day temperature during the last 132 years.
According to the MeT officials, Srinagar recorded a maximum temperature of 34.2°C, which was 6.0°C above normal. This was the 2nd highest maximum temperature ever recorded in September since 1891.
The MeT officials added that it has broken the 53-year-old record of 33.8°C recorded on 01 September 1970.
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