Srinagar, Jan 4 (IANS) The minimum temperature in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar stayed at the freezing point while in the upper reaches in Kargil the mercury plummetted to minus 16.8 degrees Celsius Monday, keeping most people in the town indoors.
The temperature in Srinagar Monday hovered between the freezing point and 5.6 degrees Celsius at the maximum, putting the city in a deep freeze, while the maximum temperature in Kargil town was recorded at minus 5 degrees Celsius.

“The maximum temperature in Leh town was minus 3.6 degrees Celsius while the minimum was minus 13.6 degrees Celsius,” an official of the local weather office told IANS Monday evening.

Speaking to IANS on phone from Kargil, Shabir Ahmad, a government employee posted there, said: “We have not moved out of our quarters for the last 24 hours because of the fear of frostbite.”

The Met official said: “The spell of cold wave sweeping the valley for the last one week was broken by the snowfall as the minimum temperatures here rose from minus 4.8 to zero degree, but an intense cold wave continues to sweep the Ladakh region.”

“Isolated rain and snow is expected during the next 12 hours in the valley,” the official said.

Meanwhile, the authorities have cleared the snow on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, but people have been told to contact the traffic officials before undertaking the journey from Srinagar or Jammu.

“This has been done to ensure the safety of the passengers since the highway remains open for 24 hours and the drop in night temperatures often results in highly slippery road conditions,” said an official of the traffic department here.

It has not snowed in the valley since Monday morning and electric power supply across the state, which was disrupted because of a major fault in the northern grid, has now been restored, according to engineers of the electricity department here.