Peak winter season has almost come to an end, but the hilly states of Jammu and Kashmir Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh are yet to witness any major episode of snow.
The absence of snowfall can be blamed for the low frequency of Western Disturbances across Western Himalayas. After December 21, the next Western Disturbance which affected Jammu and Kashmir was on January 16. Furthermore, this system was feeble in nature and traveled in upper latitude, thus, its effect remained confined to parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir had witnessed scattered rainy and snowy spells, but the snowfall activity remained mainly confined to the higher reaches of the state.
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In the last 24 hours, Gulmarg reeled under frigid cold weather conditions with the minimums dropping to sub-zero levels, settling at -7°C followed by Pahalgam and Qazigund wherein the night temperatures went to -1.5°C and 0.4°C respectively.
Most of December was also dry for the hills and the last heavy snowfall that occurred in the hills were from December 10 to 12. Moreover, the top favored hill spots such as Shimla and Manali failed to record any major snowfall this season.
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As per Skymet Weather, the rain and snow in the hills are mainly because of the back to back active Western Disturbances. This season, though the frequency of the Western Disturbances was more, their effect was limited as the systems were not strong enough to induce heavy snow over the region.
The Western Disturbances that approached the Western Himalayan region mainly traveled in the upper latitudes, thus affecting parts of North Jammu and Kashmir only. In wake of this, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh mainly battled dry weather conditions. And for the northwestern plains, they were just capable of altering the wind flow.
As of now also, the Western Disturbance which has affected Jammu and Kashmir by giving light rain and snow is likely to move away eastwards by tonight, resulting in dry weather for the hills of North India in the next 24 hours.
In fact, weathermen are of the view, that situation is most likely to remain unchanged and any major spell of snowfall will continue to be far-fetched.
Image Credit: tourmyIndia
Any information taken from here should be credited to skymetweather.com