Rains lash Kashmir, snowfall at Peer Ki Gali, Zojila

Srinagar, June 21: As the rest of the country grapples with a heat wave, the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district experienced snowfall, while Kashmir was lashed by rain on Friday, significantly bringing down temperatures.

According to officials, Peer Ki Gali, which connects the Shopian district of south Kashmir with the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri, received four inches of fresh snowfall, disrupting normal traffic on the road. Similarly, the upper reaches of Zojila Pass on the Srinagar-Ladakh highway also witnessed fresh snowfall, and several parts of the Ladakh region were lashed by rain, as reported by the Meteorological Department in Leh.

Srinagar and other major areas of the Kashmir Valley experienced intermittent light to moderate rainfall since the morning, cooling the atmosphere and disrupting daily life. Tourists on Boulevard Road along the iconic Dal Lake were seen donning warm clothes to cope with the cooler weather brought on by the rain and overcast skies.

The Meteorological Department has forecasted generally cloudy weather with light rain or thundershowers at many places in the Kashmir Division on Friday. Light rain and thunderstorms are expected at isolated locations over the next two days, while from June 24 to 28, the weather is predicted to remain mostly dry, although light rain or thunderstorms cannot be ruled out.

“Heat wave conditions will prevail over the plains of the Jammu division starting June 22,” the department stated.

In Srinagar, the minimum temperature recorded during the night between Thursday and Friday was 15.4°C, which is 0.4°C below the normal for this time of year. The city also received 5.7 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours leading up to 8:30 am on Friday. The maximum temperature recorded on Thursday in Srinagar was 27.0°C, which is 2.2°C below the normal for the summer capital.

Other tourist spots also reported cooler temperatures. Pahalgam in south Kashmir recorded a minimum temperature of 10.4°C, Kokernag registered 15.1°C, and the famous ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district recorded a low of 8.5°C on Friday, according to the Meteorological Department.