Snowless Mountains Signal Danger For Kashmir Valley

This winter, Kashmir seems to be holding its breath.

- Sincerely, Dr. Rizwan Rumi [e-mail]

Snow hasn’t arrived, and the seasons no longer feel certain across mountains and plains.Meadows stay green when they should be white, the silence of snowfall never comes, and the mountains stand bare.

What once felt special now feels alarming. The question is no longer “Why this winter?” but “What kind of future are we heading toward?”

Kashmir sits in the Himalayas, one of the world’s most climate-sensitive regions. The mountains are warming faster than the global average. Even small rises in temperature can change snowfall, push snowlines higher, and shorten winter. Ancient glaciers, the keepers of water, are retreating year by year while life downstream remains largely unaware of the cost.