Srinagar: As the night deepened over the Kashmir Valley on Friday, winter announced its quiet yet piercing arrival. Srinagar shivered at a bone-numbing 0.2°C, marking its coldest night of the season, while the hill stations of Gulmarg and Pahalgam slipped below freezing — –2.6°C and –3°C, respectively. According to the meteorological department, the chill is far from over. With clear skies and snow-capped mountains radiating the day’s stored cold back into the valley, temperatures are expected to plunge even further over the next ten days. In homes and streets alike, Kashmiris have turned once more to their timeless companions — woollens, the pheran, and the kangri, that earthen pot of glowing embers cradled close beneath layers of fabric. The streets are now dotted with figures wrapped in

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