The winter season in Jammu and Kashmir can be broken up into Chilai Kalan, Chilai Khurd and Chilai Bacha.
Chilai Kalan is a 40 day period of extreme cold starting 21 December. It is the harshest season of cold weather. The minimum or night temperature during this period consistently remains 3-4 degrees below the freezing point. The day temperature too settles in single digit. According to the data available with Skymet, the average minimum temperature during this period settles at -2 degrees Celsius. Heavy snow and rain is also a characteristic of Chilai Kalan.
Chilai Khurd begins on 31 January and lasts upto 19 February. It is relatively milder with the average night temperature settling close to freezing point (0 degrees Celsius).
Chilai Bacha, the third and last one is the mildest of all. It lasts for a short period of 10 days from February 20. One can clearly experience the difference during this period as the day and night temperatures in Jammu and Kashmir rise by 4-5 degrees. The maximums start to become comfortable.
For instance, the day temperature recorded in Srinagar yesterday was 16 degrees Celsius which was 6 degrees above normal. With two days still to go before Chilai Bacha begins the high temperature points towards winter getting mild now. Last year the average day temperature in Srinagar for February had settled at 14.7 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, a fresh Western Disturbance is going to approach Jammu and Kashmir on 19 February. Though the system will be mild it may impact the temperatures mildly in terms of increase in the night temperature and drop in the maximum.
Image Credit: Daily Excelsior
Any information picked up from here has to be attributed to Skymet Weather
