After an elongated wait, the high reaches of Jammu and Kashmir including Vaishno Devi finally received rain and snowfall on Tuesday. Due to the widespread rain and snowfall, the temperature across Katra and adjoining Vaishno Devi dropped rapidly with the cold winters also tightening its grip.
The snow episode that occurred in Vaishno Devi last day was because of the Western Disturbance that was prevailing in the Western Himalayan region. However, as the system was fast moving, the weather system is now moving forward in the eastern direction, resulting in clearing the snow and rainfall activity. Further, the weather is now anticipated to become mainly clean and dry by the end of this week.
The recent occurrence of snow was the first snow for all the hiss stations of North India for the year. Prior to this, rain and snow in Vaishno Devi were observed on December 10-12. Since then the weather remained dry.
[yuzo_related]
Click here to get the live lightning and thunderstorm status across Vaishno Devi
Skymet Weather had already predicted for light rain or snowfall for Vaishno Devi. After the snow-spell, the temperatures came down sharply in the shrine. The maximum temperature in Katra was recorded 4 degrees below normal at 12.6°C and the minimum temperature was recorded at one degree below the normal at 5.4°C. Today, after clearing the weather, the temperature is expected to increase.
According to the weathermen at Skymet Weather, the mercury levels can reach between 10 and 12 degrees Celsius at Bhawan. However, due to the impact of snowfall, the minimum temperature of Vaishno Devi Bhawan will remain between 1 and 3 degrees for the next few days, so the devotees would witness cold weather conditions.
Meanwhile, a new Western Disturbance is likely to affect Jammu and Kashmir by January 29. Thus, the weather experts have assessed that rain and snow may once again commence in Vaishno Devi and surrounding areas, by January 29 and 30.
Image Credit: Tripadvisor
Any information taken from here should be credited to skymetweather.com