<span style="color: #222222;">The cold wave intensified in Kashmir as the mercury stayed several degrees below the freezing point at all weather stations in the valley.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The MET department today said, the minimum temperature in Srinagar last night settled at minus 1.4 degrees Celsius.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The mercury in Kupwara town in north Kashmir dipped to minus 6.5 degrees while Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 12 degrees Celsius.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Leh, in the frontier Ladakh region, recorded a low of 15.5 degrees Celsius while the mercury in nearby Kargil settled at a low of minus 20.7 degrees Celsius. Kargil was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Kashmir is currently under the grip of 'Chillai-Kalan' – the 40-day harshest period of winter when the chances of snowfall are most frequent and maximum and the temperature drops considerably.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">'Chillai-Kalan' ends on January 31, but the cold wave continues even after that in Kashmir. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The 40-day period is followed by a 20-day long 'Chillai-Khurd' (small cold) and a 10-day long 'Chillai-Bachha' (baby cold).</span>