Heavy Snowfall Over Northern Mountains, Services Disrupted

Heavy snowfall over Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh has affected normal life across most parts. The state of Uttarakhand also witnessed rain, snow, and hailstorms over the last two days. The services have been badly hit across the mountain states for the last two days.  The entire Kashmir Valley, Banihal, Patnitop, Gulmarg, Kupwara, Poonch, Lahaul-Spiti, Kullu Valley, Rohtang Pass, and Atal Tunnel have all been blanketed with a deep layer of snow. The fresh spell has disrupted road travel, rail services, and flights. The shooting stones, landslides, and mudslides have worsened the situation further. Gulmarg Gondola—one of the highest cable car services and heli services at Vaishno Devi—was suspended. The road traffic between Jammu and Srinagar has been restored. However, fresh snowfall is likely for two more days, more intense in the next 24 hours, and reduced tomorrow.

All the popular resorts like Srinagar, Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Manali, Dalhousie, and Shimla-Kufri have snowed afresh. Locations with heavy rain and snow include Gulmarg-48mm, Gulmarg-58mm, Kukernag-67mm, Bhaderwah-72mm, Batot-164mm, Banihal-100mm, Srinagar-31mm, Mandi-57mm, Kullu-113mm, Shimla-55, and Mukteshwar-32mm. Possibly, this is the heaviest snowfall of this season across the mountain ranges. Another western disturbance is likely to arrive on 02nd March and persist till 04th March. The weather activity will be relatively mild but still widespread, more so on 03rd Mar. This spell surely has raised prospects of the ‘Khelo India Winter Games, suspended earlier due to lack of snow. The heaps of fresh snow are marred with the threat of avalanche in respective areas, and caution needs to be exercised.

The weather conditions will improve marginally tomorrow. On arrival of a fresh western disturbance, the conditions will clamp down once again, albeit for a shorter duration, this time. Still, moderate to heavy weather activity is likely on 03rd Feb and recedes on 04th Feb. Broad clearance in the activity is expected between 05th and 08th Feb 2025.