Srinagar on Tuesday recorded its coldest night of this winter season as Jammu and Kashmir continued to reel under dipping temperatures, reported the Hindustan Times.

The India Meteorological Department said that Srinagar registered a temperature of minus 2.3 degrees Celsius on the intervening night between Monday and Tuesday.

An official of the weather agency said that the minimum temperature had dropped to minus 3 degrees Celsius last year on November 22 in Srinagar, reported Free Press Kashmir. The lowest temperature ever recorded in the city was on November 29, 1934, when mercury fell to minus 7.8 degrees Celsius.

Monday was the coldest night of the season earlier with the temperature dropping to minus 1.6 degrees Celsius but Tuesday’s temperature surpassed it.

All the weather stations in Kashmir recorded night temperatures below zero. The temperature fell to the lowest in Pahalgam at minus 4.4 degrees Celsius. Fog covered most parts of the town, reducing visibility.

In Kupwara’s Khanbal town, the temperature dipped to minus 4 degrees Celsius at night.

The night temperature in Kupwara district was recorded at minus 3 degrees Celsius. Qazigund town, also known as the Gateway to Kashmir valley, in Kulgam district registered minus 2.2 degrees Celsius temperature at night.

The ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded minus 0.6 degrees Celsius.

At most places, the day temperature on Monday remained between between 13 and 15.6 degrees Celsius except in Gulmarg, which recorded 9.8 degrees Celsius.

Foggy conditions have prevailed in the Kashmir Valley for the last 10 days. Officials have said that the below zero temperature is because of air pollution rising due to increased traffic and burning of stubble and tree foliage.

The weather agency on Monday had predicted mostly dry weather till the end of November.

“However, there is a 40 to 50% chance of very light snowfall over extreme North Kashmir on the [November] 25th,” said Jammu and Kashmir’s meteorological department director Sonam Lotus.. “Overall, there is no forecast of any major weather for next two weeks.”

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department on Monday said that cold wave conditions was very likely to prevail in Punjab, Haryana and north Rajasthan during the next two days.

A minimum temperature of 10 degrees Celsius or below or 4.5 degrees less than the season’s normal for two consecutive days is classified as a cold wave in the plains. A cold wave is also declared when the minimum temperature is less than four degrees Celsius in the plains.

RK Jenamani, a senior scientist at the National Weather Forecasting Centre, said they were expecting an incursion of cold air.

“In Delhi, there may not be cold wave conditions but minimum temperatures will fall to about 8 to 9 degrees, around three to four notches below normal,” Jenamani said. “In rural pockets, the cold wave conditions are likely to set in.”

DS Pai, the head of climate research and services at the weather department’s Pune branch, explained that there are two ways through which a fall in the temperature occurs.

“One is a clear sky, which leads to the warmth radiating back quickly from the surface,” he said. “It is called radiational cooling. There are clear skies over northwest India now.”

Another reason, Pai said, is the northwesterly cold and dry winds blowing over a region from the Himalayas.

“There is a low-pressure area over the Arabian Sea, which causes advection of northwesterly winds over the northwestern region. Consecutive low-pressure areas have formed over the Arabian Sea,” he added.