Jammu & Kashmir
Alert issued amid ‘isolated heavy rain, thunderstorm’ forecast in JK
Srinagar: The weather department on Thursday issued an orange warning for isolated heavy rain and thunder and lightning in Jammu and Kashmir on March 31.
A meteorological department official told GNS that there was a forecast for scattered light rain and thunder over Jammu and Kashmir in the next 24 hours.
For the subsequent two days, he said, there was the possibility of widespread moderate rain, thunder, and snow (mainly over upper reaches).
Besides the orange alert for March 31 for “isolated heavy rain thunder/ lightning” and disruption of traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, the MeT department has also issued a yellow warning for March 30 and April 1 to 3.
There are four types of colour codes signifying the level of caution: green which means no action, yellow— situation to be watched, orange –government agencies need to be prepared for severe weather and red –action needed by the agencies.
Meanwhile, the minimum temperatures recorded increase at most places and settled in Qazigund nad Pahalgam.
The official said that Srinagar recorded a low of 6.6°C against 5.5°C on the previous night and it was 0.5°C above normal for the summer capital.
Qazigund, he said, recorded a low of 4.6°C against 2.6°C on the previous night and it was 0.1°C below normal for the gateway town of Kashmir.
Pahalgam, he said, recorded a low of 0.8°C against minus 0.3°C on the previous night and it was 0.8°C below normal for the famous tourist resort in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
Kokernag recorded a low of 4.9°C against 4.2°C on the previous night and it was 0.2°C above normal for the place, the officials said.
Gulmarg recorded a low of 0.0°C, the same as on the previous night and it was 0.8°C above normal for the world-famous skiing resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, he said.
In Kupwara town, he said, the mercury settled at 5.7°C against 4.3°C on the previous night and it was 1.2°C above normal for the north Kashmir area.
Jammu recorded a low of 18.5°C against 15.5°C on the previous night. It was 1.9°C above normal for J&K’s winter capital, he said.
Banihal, he said, recorded a low of 7.0°C (above normal by 0.5°C), Batote 9.0°C (above normal by 0.5°C), Katra 15.2°C (1.4°C above normal) and Bhadarwah 6.2°C (0.8°C above normal). Ladakh’s Leh and Kargil recorded a low of minus 3.0°C and 0.5°C respectively.
