Srinagar records driest January in six decades

Srinagar, Jan 30: What is otherwise a month of snow, January in Kashmir this year has only seen minutest of snowfall and that too at the end of the month, when the 40-days of harsh winter period colloquially  referred to as 'Chillai Kalan'  was about to bid adieu to Kashmir valley.

As a result, the capital of Srinagar recorded the driest 30-days of January in 58-years while this Chillai Kalan was the driest since the last one in 2015.

Quoting a meteorological department official the news agency GNS reported that 1.1mm of rain recorded in Srinagar in the first 30-days of January was the lowest since 1966 when 0.6mm of rain was witnessed during the corresponding time.

About this ‘Chillai-Kalan’ the official said that the period of harsh winter saw only 1.5mm of precipitation which was lowest since 2015 when 5.6mm rain was recorded during the 40-day period.

Qazigund and Kokernag in south of Kashmir also recorded lowest ever precipitation in first 30 days of January against 1.0mm and 1.4 respectively in 2018 for the corresponding time in the south Kashmir areas.

Pahalgam recorded 2.6mm precipitation in the first 30 days of January this year, slightly higher than previous lowest of 3.3mm during the time in 2018.

Meanwhile, night temperature recorded a drop but stayed above normal on Tuesday, marking the start of 20-day-long period ‘Chillai-Khurd’.

The meteorological department official further said that in the last 24 hours till 08:30  in north Kashmir, Gulmarg received 3.5cms of snow while Kupwara received 3.3mm of rain.

Regarding temperature, he said, Srinagar recorded a low of 0.8°C against 3.6°C on previous night and it was 1.8°C above normal for the summer capital of J&K for this time of the year.

Qazigund recorded a minimum of 0.4°C against minus 2.0°C on the previous night, he said. The minimum temperature was 3.0°C above normal for the gateway town of Kashmir, the MeT official said.

Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 3.3°C against 0.7°C on the previous night and it was 2.8°C above normal for the famous resort in south Kashmir.

Kokernag recorded a minimum of 0.7°C against 0.5°C on the previous night and the temperature was above normal by 3.3°C for the place, the official said.

Kupwara town recorded a low of 0.3°C against 0.5°C on the previous night and it was 2.8°C above normal there, the official said.

For Gulmarg, the official said, it recorded a low of minus 6.0°C against minus 3.2°C on the previous night and the temperature was 1.5°C above normal for the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir.

While Jammu recorded a minimum of 8.5°C and it was below normal by 0.2°C for the winter capital of J&K.

Banihal recorded a low of 1.2°C, Batote 3.3°C and Bhaderwah 1.0°C, he said.

From January 30-31, he said, there is a possibility of light to moderate rain/snow at many places of J&K with chances of heavy snowfall over few higher reaches in these seven districts.

From February 1-2, he said, generally cloudy weather with light rain and snow was expected at many places towards late afternoon and evening.

From February 3-4, he said, there is possibility of light to moderate rain and snow at many places of J&K.

The culmination of the 40-days-of-harsh-period does not mean an end to the winter. It is followed by a 20-day-long period called ‘Chillai-Khurd’ that occurs between January 30 and February 19 and a 10-day-long period ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold) which is from February 20 to March 1.