Srinagar, Jan 21 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir summer capital Srinagar and other parts of the Valley continued to reel under the harsh winter chill Friday even as the weatherman forecast light rain and snow at isolated places.
‘The minimum temperature was minus 4.4 degrees Celsius in Srinagar today (Friday),’ said Mubeen Ahmed Malik, scientific assistant at the local weather office here.
‘In south Kashmir’s Qazigund town the minimum was minus 6 degrees, in Pahalgam minus 6.1, in Gulmarg minus 10.3 degrees Celsius. Leh and Kargil towns recorded minus 8.9 and minus 15.0 degrees respectively today.’
Rain and snow at isolated places have been forecast across the Valley. One-way traffic from Jammu to Srinagar is being allowed on the strategic Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
Slippery road conditions and frozen water pipes continued to trouble locals for the last four days.
‘Sometimes the taps inside the house get frozen and if these are functional, then the main supply to the overhead tank gets frozen,’ said Abdul Majid, 39, who lives in old city’s Aali Kadal area here.
‘It has become a full time job for my family. Sometimes we are busy defreezing the main pipeline and once these are okay, we shift to work on the taps inside the house. Unless the overall temperature rises here, things are not going to get any better.’