Frost bites Valley, Drass freezes rock solid at minus 28.5

Srinagar, January 12

Morning fog affected pedestrian and vehicular movement in J&K on Tuesday as the gap between the maximum and the minimum temperatures narrowed down in Valley and Ladakh.

Night's lowest temperature dropped to bone-chilling minus 28.5 in Drass town of Ladakh. Maximum temperature was minus 10.6 in Drass yesterday.

Drass is one of the coldest inhabited places in the World.

"Weather is likely to remain foggy and dry. Due to cloud cover, the gap between maximum and minimum temperatures has dropped down in Valley and Ladakh," an official of the meteorological (MET) department said.

The ongoing 40-day long period of harsh winter cold known locally as the 'Chillai Kalan' will end on January 31.

The minimum temperature was minus 0.9 degrees Celsius in Srinagar on Tuesday while the maximum was 4.1 on Monday. This has made both the day and the night frosty cold for the locals.

Pahalgam had minus 5.3 and Gulmarg minus 11.3 as the minimum temperature on Tuesday.

Leh town of Ladakh had minus 15.9, Kargil minus 14.4 and Drass minus 28.5 as the night's lowest temperature.

Jammu city had 8.9, Katra 6.4, Batote 2.4, Bannihal 2.0 and Bhaderwah minus 0.5 as the minimum temperature. IANS