Snowfall Covers Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir And Uttarakhand, Temperature, Traffic Snarls Reported 

Jammu, February 13: The Northern states of India including Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and parts of Uttarakhand were gripped icy winds and heavy snowfall since Monday. The fresh overnight snowfall in the hill states added to the winter chill across the state today.

In Himachal Pradesh, Kinnaur district and Jubbal, Narkanda, Kotkhai, Kumarsain, Rohru, Kharapathar and Chopal were covered with snow while Uttarakhand’s Tehri district received fresh snowfall, turning the hill state into nothing less than a picturesque.

The Met Office said that  Western Disturbance - a storm system originating from the Mediterranean-Caspian Sea region and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region would remain active till Tuesday, bringing more rain and snow.

In Jammu & Kashmir, people greeted the snowfall that is expected to replenish the perennial water reservoirs in the mountains. The snowfall snapped Kashmir’s links with the rest of the country as the arterial Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was closed due to the accumulation of snow around Jawahar Tunnel in the Qazigund area.

According to the Meteorological (MeT) Department officials, the month of January was the driest in terms of rainfall in Kashmir in the past 38 years. The MeT department has forecast that the minimum temperature will drop around two to three degrees below normal over the next few days in the hill states.

The snowfall has led traffic snarls on all major roads as continuous snowfall has hampered the efforts of the authorities to clear the snow from roads. The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is closed for traffic as landslides have occurred at few places due to rains and snowfall yesterday.

The minimum temperature on Monday across the Valley stayed around the freezing point, except for Gulmarg, the skiing resort in north Kashmir where the mercury settled at minus 4.6 degrees Celsius. Kargil in the Ladakh region continued to be the coldest place in the state at minus 14 degrees Celsius, while nearby Leh town was also freezing at minus 11.3 degrees Celsius last night.

Fresh snowfall was also reported in Uttarakhand’s Dhanolti, Chakrata and most of the hill districts including Rudraparayag and Chamoli where the famous shrines of Kedarnath and Badrinath are located.

As per reports by PTI, Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib, Nandadevi National Park and the Kedarnath Musk Deer Sanctuary (Kedarnath Kasturi Mrig Abhayaranya) also received light snowfall, a report from Chamoli said, adding the drizzle in the lower areas intensified the cold conditions.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 13, 2018 01:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).