It's time for the people of Kashmir to bring out their traditional Pheren (tweed over garment) Kangris (fire-pot oven in a basket of willow wicker) because the Valley is under the cold spell of Chillai Kalan.
On Friday, Kashmir witnessed the coldest night of the season with the temperature dropping down to minus 5.6 degrees. Some portions of the Dal Lake were also frozen due to the cold wave. Gulmarg and Pahalgam recorded minus 9.6 degrees, minus 12 degrees temperature, respectively.
On Thursday, the Drass belt of Kargil district became the coldest area in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh recording a minimum temperature of minus 30.2 degrees Celsius.
'Weather to prevail over next week' - Meteorological Department
The Meteorological Department has forecast similar weather conditions to prevail over the next week. According to the Director Met Department, Kashmir Sonam Lotus, "It is 'chillai kalan', hence we are seeing the drop in the temperature below zero degrees. It is going to be like this for the next week."
Power cuts & water issue
Often a delight for the tourists, Chillai Kalan and it's harsh weather conditions cause of great inconvenience to the locals. The scheduled and unscheduled power cuts make have things worse for the people. The locals face 10 hours of power cut causing inconvenience to them making life difficult. The water taps have frozen in many places, causing a lot of issues for the people of Kashmir.
(With inputs from wires)
