Srinagar: With 37.4 degrees Celsius as the maximum temperature on Saturday, J&K’s Srinagar city recorded the third highest temperature ever recorded in the month of July.

 Mukhtar Ahmed, Director of MET, told IANS, “The maximum temperature was 37.4 degrees Celsius today. This is the third-highest July temperature ever recorded. In 1946, Srinagar recorded 38.6 as the maximum temperature in the month of July. In 1953, the highest recorded July temperature was 37.7.”

The maximum temperature was 32.7 degrees Celsius in Jammu city, which is 2.7 degrees below normal.

Rain has been eluding the Kashmir Valley for over a month, and this has resulted in an acute scarcity of drinking water and irrigation facilities.

The gravity of the situation became evident when the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, inaugurated water tanker services for areas hit by scarcity of drinking water.

Entire south Kashmir areas, including the districts of Pulwama, Anantnag, Shopian, and Kulgam, are facing acute shortages of irrigation for Paddy crops and apple orchards.

Areas at higher elevations in Srinagar, Budgam, Kupwara, Ganderbal, Bandipora and Baramulla districts are also hit by water shortages both for human use and for irrigating Paddy fields and orchards.

Children in places with small ponds and springs literally refuse to come out of water.

While some cases of drowning of children have also taken place during the past few days in the Jhelum River.

Schools are presently observing summer vacation which will end on Monday. J&K Education Minister, Sakina Itoo told reporters on Saturday that a decision on the extension of summer vacations would be taken on Sunday after considering the weather conditions.

The MET office has some good news for the people in the Valley as intermittent to fairly widespread rain is likely to occur in J&K between the 6th and 8th of July.

Known for milder summers with breezes and cool nights, Kashmir Valley has been reeling under extreme heat for the last fortnight.

(IANS)