Jammu and Kashmir witnessed driest, warmest January in 43 years

Srinagar: Several parts of Jammu and Kashmir, including Srinagar city, witnessed the warmest January in 43 years, the Meteorological Centre Srinagar’s data said.

In terms of snowfall or rains, Srinagar city witnessed the second driest January in the past four decades, recording a mere 3.0 mm of precipitation in the month this year, it said.

The lowest precipitation in the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir was recorded in January 2018 when only 1.2 mm of rainfall or snow took place.

According to data, the mean Tmax (maximum temperature) recorded in January over Srinagar station was 11.9 degrees Celsius while for Gulmarg in north Kashmir and Banihal in Ramban district, it was 5.7 degrees Celsius and 16.9 degrees Celsius respectively.

Jammu city recorded the lowest mean maximum temperature for the first month of the year in over four decades, it said.

This is the highest mean maximum temperature for the month of January for these stations in the past 43 years, the MeT centre said in a post on X.

"2024 January was one of the driest and warmest January in the last 43 years for most of the stations of J-K except the stations of plains of Jammu (Jammu, Samba and Kathua)," it added.

It said Jammu station, on the other hand, observed a mean maximum temperature of 13.4 degrees Celsius in January, which is the lowest since 1983.

The mean minimum temperature for January observed over Srinagar, Jammu, Gulmarg and Banihal were minus 3.2 degrees Celsius, 5.5 degrees Celsius, minus 3.9 degrees Celsius and 0.1 degrees Celsius respectively.

"The 2024 mean Tmin is one of the highest for Gulmarg in the last 43 years," the MET centre said.