Prolonged dry spell, severe cold wave worry locals, agri experts

Like November, the month of December in Kashmir valley has been largely dry with extremely cold temperatures going as low as -10°C, triggering concern among the weather and agricultural experts while also alarming the J&K government.

- Ashiq Hussain

SRINAGAR:

Except for some light bouts of snowfall over higher reaches, the month of December has behaved against expectations with no major snowfall in plains or the mountains causing cold wave conditions and affecting normal life in the Himalayan region.

Last week on Saturday when the Himalayan region's 40-day harsh winter period Chilai Kalan started, the capital Srinagar witnessed -8.5°C, the coldest in five decades, while mercury in south Kashmir's Konibal plunged to as low as -10.5°C.

Since then the weather has been consistently cold. On Thursday, the minimum temperature in Srinagar and Konibal was -7 and -9°C respectively.

The weather experts had warned of upcoming harsh winter and heavy snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir this winter season owing to La Nina effect - cooler sea surface temperatures in central and eastern Pacific bringing more precipitation in India - even though the J&K region witnessed around 70% deficit in rainfall in November affecting agriculture and power production. While the temperatures have been extreme but the precipitation has been minimal.

Director meteorological centre in Srinagar Mukhtar Ahmad said that December would mostly end with no major precipitation.

"Our big sources of precipitation or snowfall are Western Disturbances (moisture laden winds from Mediterranean). So far we have witnessed 7-8 WDs which were weak with no moisture and hence no major impact. That is why December has been largely cold and dry," he said.