Kashmir remained cut off from the rest of the country for the second day today due to heavy snowfall.
The mercury fell below freezing point at most places with Gulmarg recording the coldest temperature in the state. Mercury plunged to minus 8.4 degrees Celsius in Gulmarg ski resort in north Kashmir last night, a drop of two degrees from previous night's minus 6.2 degrees Celsius.
Pahalgam in south Kashmir, which serves as the base camp for the annual Amarnath yatra, recorded a low of minus 4.3 degrees Celsius.
Leh, in Ladakh region, has been witnessing warmer nights that usual as the minimum temperature settled at minus 4.1 degrees Celsius. Srinagar city, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, and other weather stations across the valley recorded minimum temperature close to freezing point.
More snowfall and rain has been predicted in the Valley over the next 24 hours.
The arterial Srinagar-Jammu National Highway remained closed for the second consecutive day as the road has been blocked by snowfall and landslides at some places on the other side of Pir Panjal mountain range, an official said here.
He said that efforts were on the restore the 294-km road, the only all-weather link between Kashmir and rest of the country, at the earliest.
"If the weather continues to hold, we might be able to make the road traffic worthy and clear the stranded vehicles later in the day," the official said.
The road was closed yesterday due to heavy snowfall across Kashmir and landslides at some places. The precipitation has stopped since last night.
The air traffic to and from Srinagar International Airport also remained suspended for the second day as the runway has been blocked by snow.
"The Airport Authority of India is making efforts to clear the snow from the runway and we are hopeful that the afternoon flights might be able to land and take off," anofficial at Srinagar Airport said.
Shimla, Manali cut off after snowfall
Also traffic to tourist destinations Shimla, Manali and Dalhousie were cut off from the rest of Himachal Pradesh following heavy snowfall overnight.
Officials said that electricity supply was snapped in Shimla and Manali as power lines were damaged due to falling trees. Traffic bound for Shimla was disrupted at Shogi due to snowfall.
Likewise, traffic on the National Highway-21 was blocked near Patlikuhl, 20 km before Manali. This was the season's first significant snowfall that froze the "Queen of Hills", as Shimla was fondly called by the British.
The cold weather resulted in the freezing of taps.
According to the Met office here, certain areas in Shimla like the Mall Road, the Ridge, the US Club and Jakhu hills got more than a foot of snow.
Rain also lashed lower areas of Himachal Pradesh such as Dharamsala, Palampur, Solan, Nahan, Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur and Mandi, bringing down the temperatures.
The weather forecast said western disturbances -- storm systems originating from the Caspian Sea in the Central Asia and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region -- would remain active till Sunday with chances of more snow.
With PTI Inputs
