IANS/Srinagar


A man walks inside a park during snowfall in Srinagar yesterday. An intense cold wave is sweeping through Kashmir after overnight snowfall
Heavy snow lashed the Kashmir Valley yesterday and the Srinagar-Jammu highway was closed to prevent accidents. The authorities have issued an avalanche warning for people living in the higher reaches of the valley.
Srinagar received six inches of snow until 8am and it snowed throughout the day.
Gulmarg received a foot of fresh snow, Pahalgam three inches, Ganderbal six, Badgam and Bandipora five, Baramulla four, Shopian three and Anantnag one inch until 8am.
The minimum temperature in Srinagar was minus 3.5 degrees Celsius, minus 6.9 in Pahalgam and minus 9.6 in Gulmarg.
Intermittent snowfall continued in Srinagar throughout the day with reports of heavy snow from Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Khilanmarg, Gurez, Tangdhar, Machil, Keran, Chowkibal and Uri.
The authorities have warned of avalanches.
“On the basis of information received from the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), the co-ordinator of disaster management in Kashmir has issued a medium danger avalanche warning for the higher reaches of Khilanmarg, Uri, Chowkibal, Tangdhar, Keran, Machil and Gurez in the valley,” the government said in a statement.
“The people living in these snow-bound areas above the height of 7,500ft have been advised not to venture in avalanche prone areas during the next 24 hours.
“They have also been advised to keep cleaning the snow from the rooftops of their houses to avoid any causality due to roof collapses.”
The Srinagar-Jammu highway was closed for traffic yesterday morning to prevent accidents as over 2ft thick snow covered most of the 300km-long road in Bannihal and Patnitop sectors.
All incoming and outgoing flights remained suspended from the Srinagar International Airport yesterday because of the snowfall although the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) had cleared the runway.
The daylong snowfall has, however, broken the severe cold in the valley that had lasted for more than a fortnight.
The neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh too received more snow.
A high alert was sounded in Kullu, Shimla, Chamba, Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur districts.
Tourist spots near Shimla also experienced more snowfall, triggering a rush of visitors there.