The cold wave intensified in Kashmir as the mercury stayed several degrees below the freezing point at all weather stations in the valley.
The MET department said, the minimum temperature in Srinagar last night settled at minus 1.4 degrees Celsius.
The mercury in Kupwara town in north Kashmir dipped to minus 6.5 degrees while Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 12 degrees Celsius.
Leh, in the frontier Ladakh region, recorded a low of 15.5 degrees Celsius while the mercury in nearby Kargil settled at a low of minus 20.7 degrees Celsius. Kargil was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmir is currently under the grip of ‘Chillai-Kalan’ – the 40-day harshest period of winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum and the temperature drops considerably.
‘Chillai-Kalan’ ends on January 31, but the cold wave continues even after that in Kashmir.
The 40-day period is followed by a 20-day long ‘Chillai-Khurd’ (small cold) and a 10-day long ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold).