Major parts of Kashmir valley receives snow, rain, all flights cancelled

SRINAGAR, JAN 13 –  Major parts of Kashmir Valley including Srinagar received snowfall and rains leading to closure of Srinagar-Jammu national highway and cancellation of to and fro flight operations at the Srinagar International Airport on Friday.

“All flights for today at our airport have been cancelled due to continuous bad weather. The passengers of the cancelled flights shall be accommodated by the respective Airlines in the next available flight at no extra cost”, a tweet of Srinagar Airport authority said.

Earlier Srinagar Airport in another tweet said that the flight operations at Srinagar airport have been suspended since 10 am due to continued snowfall and low visibility.

Air Asia, Indigo, Spicejet, AirIndia and Vistara have cancelled all their remaining flights for today due to bad weather.

The inclement weather also shut the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway due to snowfall and raining at various spots of the road.

Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri (SSG) road connecting Leh in Ladakh Union Territory and historical Mughal road connecting Shopian district of south Kashmir with twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu division also remained closed due to accumulation of snow.

Several far flung areas of north Kashmir district of Kupwara and Bandipora also remained closed due to accumulation of snow.

Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, received fresh snowfall coupled with rain disrupting normal life. Srinagar received 2 Cms of snowfall till 1430 hours today , Meteorological Department officials said.

Srinagar and its adjoining areas draped in white as a thick layer of snow accumulated on the rooftops, roads much to the delight of the people and the tourists. It was still snowing when this report was filed.

The tourist hot spot of Pahalgam in South Kashmir received 28 Cms of snow till 1430 hours during the day. It was overcast at the valley of shepherds in south Kashmir.

Similarly Kokernag received 23 Cms and it was still Snowing there, while Qazigund on Srinagar-Jammu national side received 10 Cms amid snow.

The frontier Kashmir district of Kupwara received 5 Cms till 1430 hours and Snow started again in the border district again.

The MeT forecast of gradual decrease in rain and snow from now and it is likely to stop by tonight.

There is no heavy snow expected in plains, Director MeT Sonum Lotus said.

Kashmir has been witnessing wet weather since Wednesday.