Srinagar, Feb 8 (IANS) The Jammu-Srinagar highway remained closed Monday for the third consecutive day due to snow and slippery road conditions.
“The highway will remain closed for vehicular traffic Monday as well because of fresh snowfall and slippery road conditions in Jawahar tunnel area,” Senior Superintendent of Police Alok Kumar said.

All the 500 stranded vehicles carrying passengers and goods are parked at safe spots along the highway between Udhampur and Bannihal towns.

This highway is the valley’s main road link with the rest of the country and all essential supplies to the valley are routed through this road.

“The minimum temperature in Srinagar was 1 degree Celsius Monday. It was minus 3.4 degrees in Kargil and minus 3.6 in Leh town,” Sonam Lotus, director of the weather office here, told IANS.

The local weather office has forecast an improvement in the weather from Tuesday.

“The weather would show improvement from tomorrow onwards though rain and snow are expected at many places in the valley during the next 24 hours,” Lotus said.

The weather office in charge also said during the past three days there had been an uneven distribution of precipitation across the state.

“Some places received heavy snowfall while others received moderate to little snowfall here during the last three days.”

Srinagar city received insignificant snowfall while it was heavy, accumulating to four feet on the ground, in holiday destination Gulmarg.

“Kargil has received 25 cm of snow and likewise it has been heavy in Sonamarg, Pahalgam and other mountainous areas,” the weatherman said.

The snowfall received during the past three days has been welcomed by the locals as the valley had hardly any snowfall during the past month.

“All the valley’s agricultural and drinking water needs depend on the local rivers whose discharge depends on the availability of snow in the mountain reservoirs and glaciers,” said Habibullah, a resident of Ganderbal district.