Overnight rainfall broke the nearly two-month-long unprecedented dry spell in Kashmir on Monday as the season’s first snowfall occurred in the ski resort of Gulmarg.
In August, Jammu-Kashmir was grappling with a rainfall deficit of 29%, recording only 131 mm of rain against 184.9 mm of normal precipitation. The situation wasn’t any better in September, with just 20 mm of precipitation till Saturday Kashmir received about 55 mm of rainfall in against 75 mm of average rainfall expected by September 23.
Summer temperatures had also remained unusually high in the Valley this year resulting in a heatwave the locals were not accustomed to. On September 12, the summer capital Srinagar recorded a maximum temperature of 34.2 degrees Celsius which was a notch less than the all-time highest recorded temperature of 35 degrees Celsius in 1934.
Furthermore, the unprecedented dry spell had become highly worrisome for apple growers as the lack of required moisture was already affecting the quality of the crop in various areas of the Valley.
However, after recent rainfall, the Union Territories of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh have accumulated 71.5 mm of rainfall, considered normal for the region for this period.
Meanwhile, Gulmarg recorded a minimum temperature of 4 degrees Celsius on Monday because of the fresh snowfall in the meadow. Similarly, mercury levels at Pahalgam hill station reached 7.8 degrees, while Srinagar saw 10.8 degrees as the night’s lowest temperature.