Snowfall shuts Srinagar-Jammu national highway

Srinagar, Dec 11: Snowfall in most parts of Kashmir and rains in the city continued for the second day today as arterial Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed due to slippery road conditions around Jawahar tunnel in Anantnag district.

"The Srinagar-Jammu highway has been closed for vehicular traffic due to snowfall which has rendered the road unsafe due to slippery road condition," a police official said.

He said the traffic on the arterial 294 kilometre road, the only all weather link between Kashmir and rest of the country, was closed at 8.30 am today.

As the minimum temperature stayed around freezing point in most of the Valley, snowfall was witnessed in most of the areas including tourist resorts of Gulmarg in north Kashmir and Pahalgam in the south Kashmir.

Srinagar city also witnessed snowfall briefly during the night but it was followed by rains, which did not allow the accumulation of the white flakes.

A MeT department official said Srinagar city recorded a mix of rain and snow equivalent to 19.8 mm of rainfall over the past 24 hours till 8.30 am.

Qazigund, the gateway town to the Valley in its south, received the highest amount of precipitation of 48.2 mm in the corresponding period.

Moderate to heavy snowfall has been recorded in higher reaches of the Valley including the areas falling close to the Line of Control, the MeT official said.

Gulmarg skiing resort, where tourist visit in large numbers during winter, recorded snowfall equivalent to 43.4 mm of rainfall. It was also the coldest place in Kashmir division as mercury plunged by four degrees last night to settle for a minimum of minus 7.0 degrees Celsius.

Kargil and Leh towns in cold desert region of Ladakh recorded a minimum of minus 1.4 and minus 1.3 degrees Celsius. Rest of the Valley recorded a minimum temperature between freezing point and 0.4 degrees Celsius.

PTI