Kashmir is under the grip of 'Chillai-Kalan', a 40-day period of intense cold.

The cold wave in Kashmir intensified on Wednesday as temperature slipped several degrees below the freezing point. Leh recorded the lowest temperature, minus 17.1 degrees Celsius last night, a weather official said.

Srinagar saw its coldest night in 11 years on Monday, with temperature slipping to minus 6.8 degrees Celsius. Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir, recorded minus 5.9 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature in Kupwara, North Kashmir, was 6.4 degrees Celsius. The night temperature in Pahalgam, one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath Yatra in south Kashmir, settled at minus 7.9 degrees Celsius.

Gulmarg, Kashmir's ski resort, was the coldest place in the Valley at minus 9.4 degrees Celsius.

The cold wave has resulted in freezing of some water bodies, including the fringes of the Dal Lake in Srinagar and residential water supply pipes in Srinagar and other towns.

Kashmir is currently under the grip of 'Chillai-Kalan' - the 40-day cold wave, when the chances of snowfall are maximum and the temperature drops considerably.

'Chillai-Kalan' ends on January 31, but the cold wave continues even after that. It is followed by a 20-day-long 'Chillai-Khurd' (small cold) and a 10-day-long 'Chillai-Bachha' (baby cold).

The winter this season has been largely dry, although there was a spell of snowfall in the Valley in early November.

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