Srinagar:
Heavy rainfall over the past two days in Kashmir has brought respite from the rising temperatures as the mercury has plunged by several degrees across the valley, officials said on Thursday. They said the continuous rainfall across Kashmir since the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday has also brought relief to the farmers as the valley had reeled under dry weather conditions over the past three months.
Srinagar city recorded a maximum temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius on August 17 which was the hottest August day in the last 39 years. The mercury in the city and elsewhere in the valley had stayed above the normal by several degrees this month.
However, the rains have brought down the temperature with the city recording the maximum of 22.6 degrees Celsius on Wednesday which is 13 degrees lower than what it recorded on August 17, the officials said. The maximum temperature in Srinagar is 6.6 degrees below the normal for this part of the season, they added.
The other places in the valley also experienced huge relief from the hotter days due to the rains as the mercury went down by several degrees. Srinagar recorded 14.7 mm of rainfall till 8.30 am this morning since Wednesday and 19.6 mm during the Tuesday/Wednesday night, the officials said.
They said Qazigund recorded 21.2 mm rainfall, Pahalgam 8.2 mm, Kokernag 28 mm, Kupwara 23 mm and Gulmarg 32.8 mm. A weather advisory by the MeT Office predicted flash floods and landslides in vulnerable parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
“IMDs experimental model shows that the soil at various places of J-K, especially the Jammu region is fully saturated and has low water absorbing capacity. Continuous rain may lead to flash flood and landslide at vulnerable places,” the advisory read. It said the weather system may lead to disruption of traffic on Srinagar- Jammu National highway, Srinagar-Leh highway and the Mughal Road.
The MeT office has said the heavy rainfall will continue across the valley till the evening of Thursday, after which there will be a gradual decrease. The weather will improve and will be sunny from Friday afternoon, the MeT office said, adding that the weather is likely to stay dry over the next few days.
