Kashmir remained cut off from rest of the country as the Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed for the fourth consecutive day, owing to heavy rain and snowfall which brought the mercury below freezing point at most places in the valley.

Efforts to restore the nearly 300-km highway, the only all-weather surface link between Kashmir and rest of the country, was hampered by continuous rain and snowfall in Ramban-Banihal-Qazigund sectors, forcing authorities to suspend traffic on the arterial road for the fourth day today, a spokesman of the Traffic department said.

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He said the heavy snowfall at Jawahar Tunnel and Patnitop areas and continuous rainfall at various places along the highway gave tough time to the agencies concerned in carrying out the restoration work at full-scale.

Consequently, the road at Battery Cheshma, Anookhi Fall, Panthyal and Digdol areas could not be made traffic worthy despite hectic efforts.

"The agencies concerned are working round-the-clock and making all out efforts in clearing the road," the spokesman said, adding over two feet of snow had accumulated on the ground at Jawahar Tunnel, one feet at Zig and four inches in Qazigund town.

However, the real problem is continuous landslides and shooting of stones triggered by incessant rains in Ramban sector.

"Big boulders and slides have totally blocked the highway at various places between Banihal and Ramban axis," he said.

Meanwhile, the downward trend of the mercury continued as the minimum temperature at most places in the valley including Srinagar settled below freezing point.

Srinagar recorded a low of minus one degree Celsius – four degrees below normal during this part of the season, a spokesman of the MeT department said.

He said the famous ski resort of Gulmarg, which experienced over two feet of fresh snow during this week, continued to be the coldest recorded place in the state with a low of minus 7.4 degrees Celsius, two notches down from the previous night.

Pahalgam hill resort in south Kashmir, which serves as the base camp during the annual Amarnath yatra, also witnessed a fall of two degrees in the night temperature which settled at minus 2.0 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said.

He said Kokernag hill resort in south also recorded a low of minus one degree Celsius.

The minimum temperature in Leh town of Ladakh region was minus 6.9 degrees Celsius, while the nearby Kargil town marked an improvement in the night temperature, which settled at minus 4.2 degrees Celsius against the previous night's minus 5.2 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said.

The MeT has predicted improvement in the weather conditions from this evening. It said the weather will remain mostly cloudy with isolated rain or snow at a few places during the next 24 hours.