Kashmir valley continued to shiver due to biting cold with the minimum temperature across the valley dropping several degrees below the freezing point even as the weather department forecast light to moderate snow at many places here.
The cold wave across Kashmir valley has intensified over the last four days. The sub-zero night temperatures have resulted in freezing of water supply lines in many areas while a thin layer of ice has formed on some small stagnant water bodies, MeT officials said.
Mercury in the skiing resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir plummeted to a minimum of minus 6.8 degrees celsius, he said.
Srinagar city, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, recorded a chilling low of minus 3.4 degrees celsius, a decrease of 0.6 degrees compared to yesterday's minus 2.8 degrees celsius, officials said.
Light to moderate snowfall and rain is expected at many places in Kashmir valley in the next 24 hours, he said. In south Kashmir, the tourist resort of Pahalgam witnessed a freezing minus 5.4 degrees celsius.
South Kashmir's gateway town of Qazigund recorded a minimum of minus 3.4 degrees celsius, while as the minimum temperature in north Kashmir frontier Kupwara district plunged to a low of minus 3.7 degrees celsius, he said.
In the remote Leh district of Ladakh region, the mercury plunged to a low of minus 13.0 degrees celsius, a decrease of four degrees compared to yesterday.
The adjoining Kargil district in the Ladakh region recorded a minimum of minus 12.0 degrees celsius, the official said.
The cold wave is expected to further intensify in coming days as 'Chillai Kalan', a forty-day period of extreme chilling weather, will begin December 21.