Srinagar
After a prolonged dry spell, the weather gods have finally sent Kashmir lashing with rains. It started with upper reaches getting light snowfall in last two days nosediving the temperatures in the valley plains.
The snowfall has blocked all the passes to distant valley’s including Gurez, Ladakh, Poonch, Kishtwar and Karnah. Roads to Gurez, Kishtwar and Poonch were closed in last two days as the highway to Ladakh was already closed. Mughal Road was closed only on Friday after snow covered the highway.
Nights in Kashmir have gone colder and even day temperature has plummeted to a season’s low. Even Jammu is facing a marginal fall in the temperature up to six degrees, Met officials said.
Weatherman’s office said almost two ft of snow is accumulated on the Mughal road draping almost 20 kms of the Mughal Road that connects Kashmir with Pir Panchal valley and is seen as a parallel highway to Jammu from Srinagar. Officials, however, said the closure is temporary because they believe the weather will improve and the winter has not actually set in. Srinagar-Jammu highway, however, is open to traffic.
The fall in temperature in Srinagar marked the beginning of winter mode as people are in heavy woolens. Most of the high middle class has started warming their Hamams.
Temperature slide has also witnessed the massive fall in the availability of the energy. Power authorities have started massive load shedding because the demand has peaked against the availability of power. This is despite the fact that the Government of India has added to the availability in recent days.
