Srinagar, Jan 16: While overnight rain led to a rise in temperature in parts of Kashmir Valley, the weatherman predicted fresh spell of snowfall from tonight onwards, prompting the administration to order half-day closure of Srinagar-Jammu national highway on January 17 as a precautionary measure.
Light rainfall brought the chill down as night temperatures increased marginally in the summer capital of Srinagar and in the frontier region of Ladakh.
According to the MeT department, Srinagar was at -0.1 degrees Celsius, up from -0.4 degrees the previous night after receiving 0.2 mm rainfall. The skies opened up briefly in the highway town of Qazigund in south Kashmir as well which received 0.9 mm rainfall and recorded a low of -1.0 degrees Celsius.
Although the mercury did not register a major slide anywhere in the state, there were areas which did see temperatures drop.
In north Kashmir's Kupwara, the minimum settled at -0.9 degrees Celsius as against yesterday's -0.3 degrees Celsius, the MeT office said.
The south Kashmir hill resort of Pahalgam was at -3.8 degrees Celsius, slightly lower than -3.4 degrees Celsius the previous night. The ski resort of Gulmarg, also in north Kashmir, shivered at -6.7 degrees Celsius, a little lower than -7.0 degrees Celsius yesterday.
In the Ladakh region, night temperature increased in Leh town to touch -9.5 degrees from -11.6 degrees the night before.
Kargil, with a low of -12.0 degrees Celsius, was the coldest place in the state although the temperature there registered an increase of over two notches from -14.6 degrees Celsius the previous night.
MeT has forecast moderate to heavy snowfall starting tonight, which is likely to intensify on January 17 and 18 and may even continue till January 19. With inputs from PTI

Lastupdate on : Wed, 16 Jan 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:00:00 IST