Srinagar, Jan 3 : Intense cold gripped Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday as the minimum temperature dropped below the freezing point throughout the Valley, with water taps and water puddles freezing.

Srinagar city recorded the minimum temperature at minus 1.5 degrees Celsius, Gulmarg (minus 6.5) and Pahalgam (minus 5.2).

Jammu city recorded 7.9 degrees Celsius, Katra town 6.6, Batote 4.2, Banihal 2.7 and Bhaderwah minus 1.5 as the night's lowest temperature.

Water taps in Srinagar city and other cities and towns in the Valley were frozen in the morning, while water puddles on roads and streets froze due to the intense cold sweeping the Valley.

Cardiologists have cautioned people, especially those with heart ailments, not to venture out of their homes in the mornings. Even during the day, such people have been advised to wrap themselves in layers of warm clothes.

Cardiologists said that the incidence of heart attack shoots up by about 20 per cent during the winter months in Kashmir due to increased blood pressure and enhanced blood platelet activity.

Despite the 40-day-long period of harsh winter cold, 'Chillai Kalan', which started on December 21, a heavy snowfall has still not occurred in the Valley, with the plains yet to witness the season's first snowfall so far.

The weatherman also does not have good news on this front as the weather is expected to remain cloudy, cold and generally dry till January 20.

The Chillai Kalan will end on January 30, and if a major snowfall does not occur by that time, then the summer months will be very testing times for the people.

So far, Jammu and Kashmir has faced a 39 per cent rain deficit this winter. If the perennial water reservoirs in the mountains do not get replenished by heavy snowfall this winter, there would be little water to sustain rivers, streams, springs, lakes and wells during the hot summer months.

/IANS