The Kashmir valley remained cut off from the rest of the country for the third consecutive day on Saturday as the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was hit by fresh landslides.

Senior Superintendent of Police, (Traffic) National Highway, JS Johar said, "Jammu- Srinagar national highway remains closed for traffic for the third consecutive day on Saturday due to bad weather. Big landslides have hit the national highway at various places, especially Digdol and Nashri."

"The NHAI which has pressed men and machinery into service to clear the debris and snow, has informed that the Jammu-Srinagar national highway will not be restored on Saturday," he said.

The highway was closed for traffic on Thursday evening after heavy snowfall around the Jawahar Tunnel. Around 500 vehicles remain stranded at various places on the highway, he said.

With slight improvement in the weather, after eight days air traffic was resumed from the Srinagar International airport. Due to poor visibility, all the flights were suspended from Kashmir for the last seven days.

Director Airports, Santhosh Dhoke told HT that after visibility was improved and change in weather the air traffic from the Srinagar airport was resumed Saturday afternoon. "We started operating our flights from 12:30 pm. We will try to operate maximum flights today.''

Meanwhile, snowfall continued in most parts of the valley, including in the areas in the plains, till Saturday morning. The MeT office has said the weather, including visibility, is likely to improve later in the day.

Srinagar recorded the minimum temperature of minus 0.5 degree Celsius, while Pahalgam minus 0.8 degree Celsius and Gulmarg minus 5 degrees Celsius, a MeT official said.

He said Drass, in Ladakh Union territory, recorded a low of minus 11 degrees Celsius, while Leh registered minus 10.1 degrees Celsius.

Jammu city recorded a low of 9.6 degrees Celsius, he added.