Chillai Kalan, the harshest 40-day winter period, commenced in Kashmir on Saturday (December 21), with Srinagar experiencing its coldest December night in 50 years at minus 8.5 degrees Celsius, according to the meteorological department.

According to the meteorological department, Srinagar experienced its coldest December night in five decades as temperatures plunged to a chilling minus 8.5 degrees Celsius.On Sunday morning, temperatures in Srinagar recorded at minus 3.

Weather experts attribute the intense cold wave in Kashmir to the La Niña effect, which leads to harsher winters and increased precipitation. During the phenomenon, the surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean cool, disrupting atmospheric circulation patterns and resulting in extreme weather conditions worldwide.

Chillai Kalan, the 40-day period of harshest winter, commenced in Kashmir on Saturday with Srinagar experiencing its coldest December night in five decades at minus 8.5 degrees Celsius.

MET Department officials said that at minus 6.2 degrees Celsius, Srinagar city recorded the lowest minimum temperature of this season so far. Gulmarg had minus 6 degrees Celsius, while Pahalgam recorded minus 8.2 degrees Celsius as the night’s lowest temperature.

Kalan, considered Kashmir's harshest winter period, Kashmir experienced its coldest night of the season, with Srinagar recording a minimum temperature of minus 6.2 degrees Celsius.

In Srinagar, the temperature came down to -8.5°C on Friday night from -8.5°C the previous night, the meteorological department said

This marks the coldest December night since 1974, when the city recorded a low of minus 10.3°C. The temperature is not only significant in recent history but also ranks as the third-lowest December temperature recorded in the city in the last 133 years,