All Flights Cancelled as Dense Fog Hits Ops at Srinagar Airport

Several parts of Kashmir experience fresh snowfall

- Ashiq Hussain

SRINAGAR: All flights were cancelled at Srinagar International Airport on Sunday due to low visibility as Kashmir Valley experienced snowfall in the mountains and rains in the plains.

By the evening, light snowfall again started in plains as well, including in summer capital Srinagar.

Officials said that heavy fog disrupted air traffic at the Srinagar Airport owing to low visibility early in the morning. Since Friday, the flights operations have been affected at the airport owing to less visibility because of the fog affecting thousands of local and non-local travellers.

"All flights were cancelled for the day due to bad weather. The visibility was as low as 50 m," said an airport official. The visibility should be around 1000-1100 m for the flights to take off and land at the airport.

As the day progressed, snowfall was experienced in the mountains while plains were lashed by rains in the Himalayan valley amid forecasts of heavy snowfall for two days.

Summer capital Srinagar also witnessed light rains in the late afternoon which intensified as the day progressed.

The ski resort of Gulmarg in Baramulla district, the valleys of the frontier district of Kupwara and the tourist resort of Sonamarg in Ganderbal were covered with a white sheet of snow turning them into winter wonderlands.

"The snowfall is very essential for our survival in terms of water availability, agriculture and power production throughout the year, though we have to face the immediate difficulties the winter causes to the common people like extreme cold, power and water disruption and closure of air and surface traffic," said Mohammad Anees, an environmental-science university student.

The Jammu and Kashmir tourism handle on Twitter posted a stunning video of latest snowfall to attract more visitors to the alpine slopes and huts of Gulmarg.