Kashmir In The Grip of Unprecedented Heatwave: Srinagar Records Season's Hottest Night, Holiday Announced For Young Students

Srinagar recorded the season's highest night temperature of 24.8 degrees Celsius, which was 6.0 degrees above normal. The highest minimum temperature on record is 25.2 degrees Celsius, noted on July 21, 1988. While most of India is battling monsoon fury, the heatwave in Kashmir is unprecedented with people trying to beat it with air coolers and even ACs, gadgets that hitherto were an exception than a norm in the valley. Reports ETV Bharat's Muhammad Zulqarnain Zulfi.

Srinagar: For the second consecutive night, Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, recorded the season's highest night temperature at 24.8 degrees Celsius, as people across Kashmir found out the hard way that climate change was real.

According to independent weather forecaster Faizan Arif, Srinagar's minimum temperature of 24.8 degrees Celsius during the intervening night of Sunday and Monday was 6.0 degrees above normal. This temperature matches the second-highest minimum temperature ever recorded on July 26, 2021. The highest minimum temperature on record is 25.2 degrees Celsius, noted on July 21, 1988.

A Kashmiri man drinks water after collecting it from a public water tap as others wait for their turn on a hot summer evening in Srinagar, Kashmir, on July 28, 2024. (AP)

There was a surge in demand for air coolers and even ACs with one key retailer in Srinagar's Old City telling ETV Bharat that he had sold out every desert cooler he had available. "They are all gone. I have never seen such demand for desert coolers," the retailer who runs his business close to the historic Jamia Masjid told ETV Bharat.

Weather forecasts predict a significant drop in temperatures across Jammu and Kashmir starting today (Monday). On Sunday, Srinagar also recorded its third-highest July temperature at 36.2 degrees Celsius amid an ongoing unprecedented heatwave. The Meteorological Department (MeT) confirmed this as the hottest day of the season so far in Srinagar.

Kashmiris fish in the dried portion of the Jhelum river on a hot summer day in Srinagar on July 25, 2024. (AP)

MeT officials stated that the all-time highest maximum temperature in Srinagar for July is 38.3 degrees Celsius, recorded on July 10, 1946, followed by 37 degrees Celsius on July 9, 1999.

People in central Kashmir's Budgam district, meanwhile, marched to Chrar-e-Sharief, the famed shrine of Kashmir’s patron saint Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Noorani, praying for rains to end the ongoing dry spell. It has been a long-standing practice of the people in the area to gather at the shrine and offer prayers, seeking rain and relief from weather vagaries.

A man walks on a hot summer day in Srinagar on July 25, 2024. (AP)

Heatwave is impacting academics as well, as parents are wary of sending their children to schools. In response, the Kashmir divisional administration has ordered the suspension of classwork for students up to the primary level in both government and private schools on July 29 and 30. The official order, issued by Divisional Commissioner V K Bidhuri, stated that teaching staff are still required to attend their duties.

"Due to the ongoing heatwave in the valley, classes for students up to the primary level in both government and recognised private schools will be suspended on July 29 and 30, 2024," the order read. "However, all teaching and non-teaching staff must continue to attend their duties as usual."

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