Very Rare #June #Snowfall In Kashmir |

As the plains of Northern India reeled under the much-documented heat this week, the higher elevations of Kashmir were receiving super-rare June snow, with the lower regions inundated with heavy rains.

The unexpected June snowfall was received at the Sonamarg resort in central Kashmir, over its adjoining higher reaches and also in Drass, Kargil, Zanskar, towns in the Ladakh division, and in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.

The nation’s weather department deemed the snowfall a “rare” meteorological event.

“I have never witnessed snow in summer. For me it was a miracle of watching snow in June when the heat wave is continuing in northern parts of the India,’’ said Rajesh Kumar, a tourist from Rajasthan.

Jalal Jeelani, an environmentalist and renowned film maker on environmental issues said this was no cause for celebration: “For us it is a warning and sign of the global warming. The snowfall is dangerous to our horticulture and agriculture sector. We should ponder why this is happening in our region.’’

That’s right, snowfall is now a sign of global warming, too.

There’s no illogic off limits.

And while higher elevations received rare (?warm?) snow, plains of the Valley saw heavy rainfall overnight which triggered flash floods in several areas and also sharply increased the level of water bodies.

The catchments of south and north Kashmir received more than 2 inches (50 mm) of rain in the past 24 hours, according to the area’s Irrigation and Flood Control department.

“50 mm plus rainfall in a catchment results in a flood-like situation in the tributary. The people residing along the tributaries in south and north Kashmir are advised to remain alert and not go too close to these tributaries,” the department warned.

The sun is continuing it’s relative shutdown, as it enters it’s next Grand Solar Minimum cycle: