An avalanche had also struck Jawahar Tunnel area on Tuesday.

(File)Banihal/Jammu: A massive snow-clearance operation is underway to restore 270-km Jammu-Srinagar National Highway which remained closed for vehicular traffic for third consecutive day Wednesday, officials said.The snow clearance operation on both sides of Jawahar Tunnel - gateway to Kashmir - was started and snow-clearance operation is going on in full swing, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Traffic National Highway, Pardeep Singh Sen told PTI.An avalanche had also struck Jawahar Tunnel area on Tuesday, blocking both tubes on Qazigund side.The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which maintains Jawahar tunnel stretch of highway, pressed its men and machines to clear road of accumulated snow yesterday itself, Sen said."We are expecting highway to be open for traffic by late afternoon.

However, only stranded vehicles will be allowed to move on highway once we get green signal," he said.Hundreds of vehicles, mostly trucks, are stranded at various places along highway, only all weather road linking Kashmir with rest of country, officials said.They said road from Banihal, which recorded over two and a half feet of snow, to Jawahar tunnel was also being cleared, while Banihal-Ramban stretch is almost clear after agencies concerned removed minor landslides and stones which came down at different places due to incessant rains.Jammu woke up to a sunny morning and day temperature is expected to rise after plummeting to 10.4 degrees Celsius yesterday - 8.4 degrees below normal during this part of season, a spokesman of MET department said.The night temperature also marked a slight dip and settled at 8.3 degrees Celsius against previous night's 8.7 degrees Celsius, spokesman said adding night temperature continues to remain over one degree above normal.He said Katra recorded a minimum of 6 degrees Celsius, while snow-bound areas of highway including Banihal and Batote townships along with Badherwah in Doda district were reeling under sub-zero temperature.Batote was coldest recorded place in Jammu division with a low of minus 2.4 degrees Celsius, while Banihal and Bhaderwah recorded a minimum of minus 0.3 degrees Celsius.