Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir’s capital city receives the season’s first heavy snowfall, covering the whole valley in a thick layer of white snow.

Srinagar recorded a low of minus 7.3 degrees Celsius while Tabo in the Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest place in Himachal Pradesh, recording a night temperature of minus 10.6 degrees Celsius. Cold weather conditions persisted in states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and parts of Uttar Pradesh.  

Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 22.4 degrees Celsius on Christmas Day, two notches above the season’s average. The minimum temperature in the national capital was recorded at 8.4 degrees Celsius, 1.5 notches below normal.

Minimum temperatures decreased at most places in Kashmir as the valley continued to reel under intense cold conditions, leading to the freezing of several water bodies and water supply lines in many areas.

The Met office has predicted a dip of two to three degrees in the minimum temperatures in Kashmir over the next two days. 

Except in Gulmarg, the night temperatures plummeted across all other weather stations in the Kashmir valley.

Currently under the grip of ‘Chillai-Kalan’, the harshest winter period of 40 days that started on December 21, the Kashmir valley is experiencing below-normal maximum as well as minimum temperatures for this time of the season, the officials said.

Srinagar Snowfall Video 

The fall in the mercury has led to the freezing of water supply lines even as a thin layer of ice covered the surface of several water bodies, including the Dal Lake.

The city was colder than Gulmarg, a tourist resort town known for skiing activities in north Kashmir, where the mercury settled at a low of minus 6.6 degrees Celsius, up from minus 7.4 degrees Celsius the previous night, the department added.

However, tourists lamented not witnessing snow fall in Srinagar on Chirstmas. The summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir has had no snowfall so far this season.

Affarwat in Gulmarg area of Baramulla district and Sadhna Top in Kupwara district received record heavy snowfall in this season , as per the reports.