Saturday, February 19, 2011

Fresh snowfall in Kashmir valley.

Srinagar: The high altitude areas of Kashmir Valley, including the famous hill resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam, experienced a fresh spell of snowfall, while the plains including Srinagar were lashed by rains today, coinciding with the start of the the last 10-day phase of winter known in local parlance as "Chillai Bacha".

"It is snowing heavily in the upper reaches including the famous ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir and Pahalgam in the south and so far two inches to over one feet of fresh snow had accumulated on the ground," official sources said.
They said Gulmarg, the major attraction for tourists visiting the Valley during winter, which had recorded nearly five feet of snow early this week, had received three inches of fresh snow till 1100 hrs, while its peripheral areas including Kangdoori, Aferwath and Khilanmarg experienced over one feet of snow.

The fresh snowfall had brought cheers on the faces of tourists who had arrived at the hill resort to enjoy skiing, the sources said adding that tourists were seen dancing and hurling snowballs on each other despite sub-zero temperature.

Gulmarg was the coldest place in the valley with a low of minus 7.8 degrees Celsius as compared to minus 10.2 degrees the previous night, a spokesman for the MET office said.

Pahalgam, which serves as the base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, recorded four inches of snow this morning, the sources said adding the holy cave shrine of Amarnath and adjoining areas experienced over one feet of fresh snow.

The hill resort recorded a minimum of 0.6 degrees, the spokesman said.

He said Srinagar, which along with other plains, was lashed by light rains in the wee hours, recorded a low of 1.0 degrees celsius.

Kupwara town in Ladakh recorded 1.8 degrees, while the night temperature in Qazigund town of Anantnag district hovered around zero degrees.

Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian district towns of south Kashmir also experienced light snowfall after brief rains, the sources said.

"Chillai Bacha", the final 10-day long phase of winter in Kashmir, commenced today and is considered less severe than the 40-day long harshest "Chillai Kalan" and 20-day long "Chillai Khurd".

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