Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and the chief minister inaugurated the sixth edition of the Khelo India winter games at Gulmarg Monday. The four-day event will host about 1000 athletes competing in these games.

“When it started to snow here last month, we did not imagine that we would be inaugurating the winter games in such high temperatures,” Abdullah said. He reiterated that it is the intent and the endeavour of this government to develop Gulmarg as an international skiing destination.

However, Omar said, the weather alone cannot be depended on to host these games. “We decide dates for these games at the beginning of the year without really taking into account whether we will have enough snow or not. It is time for us to venture toward artificial snow generation,” he said.

He also raised caution that if such steps are not considered, “we may not be able to ski in Gulmarg one day.”

Kashmir has recorded an unusually warm February this year. On February 21, Srinagar city recorded the highest ever daytime temperature for the month of February at 21 degrees Celsius, according to the Meteorological Centre at Srinagar. Gulmarg also recorded a day time high of 11.5 degrees Celsius, almost 9 degrees above the average temperature for the ski resort in February, also an all-time high.

With minimum and maximum expected to rise over the next five days, no further precipitation is expected in Kashmir till the end of the month, according to the Met office.