Snowfall hits J&K
Snowfall hits J&K
The upper reaches of Kashmir on Wednesday received rare snowfall and heavy rain leading to flooding in some areas even as plains of North India are reeling under an intense heat wave.

Rain and fresh snowfall in the upper regions of the Valley, especially in Sonmarg and Gurez led to a drop in day temperature. However, weather department officials termed the snowfall in June as a "rare" meteorological event that was "not unusual".

Sonum Lotus, director of India Meteorological Department (IMD) office in Srinagar, said widespread rain and snow was recorded in Drass, Kargil, Zojilla and Zanskar.

"Snow in June in the upper parts of the valley is not unusual but a rare event. It has happened in the past and will happen in future as well,'' he said. "Since the department has not an observatory in Zanskar so they don't have written record when the snowfall was recorded in June."

Apart from Kashmir, snowfall in higher reaches have also been reported from Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim in June.




Lotus said that whenever it rains for couple of days and temperature goes down there is possibility of snowfall in upper areas of valley.

"Weather is improving but light to moderate rain is most likely to continue in the next few days. There will be an overall improvement in weather from Thursday,'' he said.

Snowfall
Tourist traffic which had been low in Kashmir this year, has shown substantial increase in the past two months.

The unusual snowfall was blessing in disguise for tourists at a time when the temperature in northern Indian plains was hovering around 45 to 46 degree Celsius.

"I have never witnessed snow in summers. For me it was not less than a miracle of watching snow in June when the heat wave is continuing in northern parts of the India,'' said Rajesh Kumar a tourist from Rajasthan. "I want to extend my trip just to enjoy this pleasant weather.''