Harshest Winter Period 'Chillai Kalan' Ends in Kashmir

The 40-day period of harshest winter, known as "Chillai-Kalan", ended today as Kashmir Valley witnessed the driest winter in the last three decades with the lowest ever precipitation in January.

"This was one of the driest winters in the last three decades. It was in 1986 that the Valley witnessed such dry winter," Director MeT office, Sonam Lotus told PTI.

Sonam Lotus said the precipitation in January was the lowest ever this year.

"The previous lowest precipitation was in January 2007 when it was 7 mm but this January it was recorded at only 4 mm. The normal for the period is 50 mm, so we can say that the weather was almost dry this winter," the director said.

He said though there were Western Disturbances which result in higher precipitation, the frequency of strong ones was rare.

 

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Rain, snow predicted from tomorrow in Kashmir Valley

"A fresh western disturbance has become active raising the possibility of light to moderate rains or snow from January 21 to 23," a spokesman of the MET department said.
  
Like the past few days, Tuesday started with a sunny note, but later the sun disappeared behind cloud cover, bringing in a fresh cold wave due to the approaching western disturbance, main system affecting weather in the Valley.

The maximum temperature recorded in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, on Monday was 13.6 degrees Celsius - eight degrees above normal.

Due to mostly clear sky, the night temperature, however, continued to remain several degrees below the freezing point as Srinagar recorded a low of minus 2.4 degrees Celsius against minus 2.6 degrees Celsius the previous night.

Leh continued to be the coldest recorded place in the state with a minimum of minus 15.5 degrees Celsius.

Nearby Kargil town registered a dip of 1.2 degrees in the minimum temperature as the mercury  settled at minus 14.6 degrees Celsius.

The famous south Kashmir hill resort of Pahalgam was the coldest recorded place in the Valley with the night temperature recorded at minus 5.4 degrees Celsius as compared to 6 degrees the previous night.

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