Christmas revellers to miss snowfall as icicles create magic of prisms in Kashmir

Christmas revellers will have to do without the traditional snowfall in Kashmir this year as the Meteorological (MeT) Department has no related forecast to cheer them up on Tuesday.

Mukhtar Ahmad, Director of the local MeT department told IANS, “There are very little chances of any snowfall in Kashmir this year. Weather is expected to remain cold and dry till December 28 when light rainfall is expected in the Jammu division and cloudy weather is expected in the Valley.”

Christmas revellers come from different parts of the country to spend the festival in the ski resort of Gulmarg and other hill stations like Sonamarg and Pahalgam where plenty of snow would make the annual festival a memorable event.

Despite the absence of snowfall around this year’s Christmas, the mountain peaks and even the ground are covered with fresh snow in Gulmarg where Christmas and New Year celebrations have already started.

Hotels and guest houses in Gulmarg are completely sold out as Christmas and New Year revellers have thronged the ski resort in large numbers.

“Our hotel is full and we are organising a mega Christmas event today," said Altaf Ahmad, manager of a hotel in Gulmarg.

Even hotels and houseboats in Srinagar city are mostly booked for Christmas and New Year.

Srinagar city on Monday recorded the lowest maximum temperature at 2.8 degrees Celsius which has added to the bone-chilling cold. Srinagar Tuesday recorded minus 6.6 as the minimum temperature.

Other hill stations like Sonamarg in the north and Pahalgam in the south of the Valley are also witnessing good tourist footfall around this Christmas and the year's end.

Long icicles hanging from the roof eaves of hotels in different hill stations have added to the magic of winter at these places.

As occasional sunlight passes through these icicles, light breaks into various colours creating the magic of hundreds of prisms hanging from rooftops.