New Delhi: Snow has spread in various high altitude areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh. The first snowfall of the season took place in the tourist destinations of Kufri, Manali, and Auli. After the rains, the temperature has dropped in Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab. The important Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Ramban district was closed after heavy snowfall and landslides in the Union Territory and the administration in Kashmir issued avalanche warnings for four districts-Kupwara, Bandipur, Baramulla, and Ganderbal. Kedarnath and Yamunotri Dham were closed for winter amid heavy snowfall in the highlands of Uttarakhand.
The maximum temperature recorded in Delhi was 25.8 degrees Celsius which is the lowest temperature of this season. However, the minimum temperature was recorded at 16 degrees. Meteorological Department officials attributed the impact of the western disturbance in the region to the drop in maximum temperature and rise in minimum temperature.
The minimum temperature is expected to drop below 10 degrees by Friday, according to the weather department. The temperature has dropped due to rains in many places in Haryana and Punjab. It also rained at some places including Chandigarh on Monday morning. On Sunday, it rained at Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Jalandhar, Patiala, Ludhiana, Panchkula, Sonipat, Gurugram, Kurukshetra, Karnal and other places. Temperatures have dropped in both the states after the rains.
In the upper Himalayan regions of Uttarakhand including Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri, Yamunotri, Auli and Harsil, snowfall had started from Sunday night and continued till Monday morning. This covered these areas with snow. Due to heavy snowfall, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat were delayed in leaving for Badrinath after performing pooja at Kedarnath temple. However, before the doors of Kedarnath Dham were closed on Monday morning, the two Chief Ministers paid obeisance to Lord Shiva and participated in worship.
The first snowfall of the season fell on Monday in Kufri and Manali, the main tourist destinations of Himachal Pradesh. Manmohan Singh, director of the Shimla-based Meteorological Center, said that in the last 24 hours, seven centimeters of snow fell in Kufri in Shimla district and two centimeters in Manali in Kullu district.
He said that 25 cm snowfall was recorded in Sangla, 20 cm in Gondla, 18 cm in Khadrala, 5.6 cm in Kalpa and 4 cm in Keylong. In addition, many other areas of the state, including the capital Shimla, received rains. Shimla received 21.6 mm of rainfall. In Jammu and Kashmir, security forces rescued 10 people trapped in heavy snowfall in the Sinthal Pass, a defense spokesman said. The Jammu and Kashmir National Highway was closed to traffic on Monday due to snowfall around Jawahar Tunnel and landslides at several places in Ramban district.
The Mughal Road, which connects the valley with the rest of the country, has also been closed for the third day in a row due to snowfall as snow fell in the highlands and rains in the plains of Jammu and other parts, officials said. He said that the snowfall around Jawahar Tunnel started on Sunday evening which continued intermittently, causing the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway to be closed for traffic due to slippery roads. The work of clearing the road is in progress with the help of Border Road Organization (BRO) personnel and machines.
