Weather forecast for New Year indicates increase in snow and rain over the mountains and hills of the Western Himalayan region on the last two days of 2013. The weather is expected to get clear on New Year with decrease in snowfall and rain.
The places which remained snow-clad are summer capital Srinagar at -3.7 degrees Celsius, Gulmarg (-9.6), Banihal (-1.9), Bhadarwah (-1.6), Kupwara (-3.7) and Qazigund (-4 degrees). Leh remained frozen at -17 degrees.
The temperatures might rise marginally during the stay of the Western Disturbance but will not be of any big relief as they will still remain below zero degrees for the next few weeks.
In the plains, the winter capital Jammu witnessed cold wave conditions as night temperature on Sunday morning dropped to 3.5 degrees, five notches below normal. It was the second coldest night in a decade after 31st December 2007, when the minimum recorded 2.6 degrees. Day temperature in Jammu & Kashmir will drop during the next 24 hours.
Snowfall and rain has also been forecast for the other Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Snow will occur at a few places on 30th and 31st of December. The minimum temperatures will also rise but maximums will fall.