Country’s major hilltop shrine Vaishno Devi saw season’s first snowfall a day before yesterday. Widespread moderate to heavy snow was witnessed over most parts of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh for the second consecutive day on Friday as well. The helicopter service to the pilgrim site had to be suspended following the snowfall.
The present condition is likely to prevail for the next 12 to 24 hours. Similar weather is likely to prevail today as well with rain and snow battering the region all through the day. However, the intensity of this activity will be a little towards the lower side.
Tomorrow however, the snowfall activity will reduce. Day after tomorrow, the weather is likely to remain mainly clear. A significant improvement in weather is likely to set in from Saturday onward. This is when the visibility in Kashmir, is also likely to improve considerably.
This recent activity has thrown normal day to day life out of gear. However, as weather forecasts were being generated way before which helped in taking up timely and adequate measures.
Kashmir valley remained cut-off from the rest of the country following the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway for the second day as the region saw an accumulation of snowfall ranging from five inches to over three feet at various places. The efforts are going on to clear the highway for traffic, but operations are being hampered by continuous heavy snowfall.
Srinagar airport had to be closed shut and flights to and from were cancelled due to heavy snow for the seventh day.
The famous ski resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam have also received over two feet of fresh snow. Two-and-a-half-feet of snow was also recorded in the famous hill resort of Patnitop, as well.
Another spell of lesser intensity is likely to hit the region on December 20 and 21.
Image Credits – Amar Ujala
Any information taken from here should be credited to Skymet Weather