Srinagar, Dec. 22 -- In a much sought relief from the long dry spell, there was widespread light snowfall in the mountains of Kashmir while the plains were lashed with rainfall on Sunday coinciding with the beginning of the harshest period of Valley's winter- Chillai Kalan. In the first major snow spell this winter, the snowfall and rains closed many roads, including Srinagar-Leh (SSG) Highway and Mughal road while multiple flights were cancelled at the Srinagar International Airport. "Respite from the prolonged dry spell. There was much needed snowfall over higher reaches & light rain at many places. Current activity will continue till tonight with another brief spell on Monday," said director of meteorological centre in Srinagar, Mukhtar Ahmad. The precipitation in Jammu and Kashmir started on Saturday night mostly in the Kashmir valley with snowfall over the higher reaches after a largely dry season since the beginning of November. The deficit rainfall had prompted the rivers to dry up and caused multiple forest fires during the past few weeks. MeT officials said that snowfall was experienced in Gulmarg and Tulail valley in north Kashmir, Sonamarg in central Kashmir's Ganderbal and Pahalgam in south Kashmir's Anantnag besides in various hilly areas. "(So far) it seems to rain only in Srinagar and other plains. Few lower reaches of North & Central Kashmir may receive light snowfall," Ahmad said. The snowfall caused the road travel to be tricky and slippery in mountainous areas prompting the traffic department to announce closure of Mughal road which connects the Kashmir valley with Pir Panjal region of Jammu division through south Kashmir. The Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri (SSG) road was also closed for vehicular traffic due to snow accumulation, a traffic official said. "Traffic is plying on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway from both sides amid heavy snowfall," the official said in the afternoon. The department also stopped tempo travellers, PSVs and vehicles with seating capacity of more than 10 from travelling from Tangmarg to the ski resort of Gulmarg owing to slippery conditions of the uphill treacherous road. "Passengers shall be allowed to move towards Gulmarg in light motor vehicles having anti-skid chains. No vehicles without proper anti-skid chains will be allowed from Tangmarg towards Gulmarg," said SSP traffic rural, Ravinder Pal Singh. The bad weather also disrupted air traffic at the Srinagar International Airport from early morning. "As many as 14 flights, including seven of IndiGo, were cancelled at the Srinagar Airport mostly due to bad weather," said an official of the airport. The MeT said that the rains and snowfall improved the air quality over Kashmir valley significantly. "There has been improvement in AQI due to rainfall. Meanwhile, there will be dry & cold weather from December 23-30," he said. The MeT said in an advisory that higher reaches of Kupwara, Bandipora & Ganderbal may receive moderate to heavy snowfall particularly during the night. "Travellers and transporters are advised to plan accordingly & follow traffic and admin advisories," it said. Meanwhile, the day temperature witnessed a fall from normal during the day owing to the snowfall. The MeT said that the maximum temperature in Srinagar was recorded at 6degC while the minimum during the night settled at 4degC. The coldest weather monitoring station was Gulmarg where mercury settled at 3.4degC during the day while night temp was recorded at -1.5degC. Pahalgam in south Kashmir recorded a maximum of 5.6degC while night witnessed a low of 2.8degC. Chilai Kalan, Kashmir's harshest 40-day winter period, starts December 21 and is usually the coldest period of the season with maximum snowfall expected during the period. The harsh winter period is followed by 20 more days which are less intense (called Chillai Khurd) and then lastly 10 days of mild cold (Chille Bache). The union territory including the Himalayan valley, owing to the dry spell, witnessed 85% deficit in rain or snowfall across the region. Officials and weather experts said that J&K witnessed just 6 mm of average rainfall against a normal precipitation of 43 mm from November 01 to December 9. Kashmir has also witnessed a string of forest fires across the region with north Kashmir most affected region owing to the dry weather....