It’s January at a Big Himalayan Resort. Where’s the Snow?

Every morning, Ishfaaq Ahmad Malik, a ski instructor in Indian-controlled Kashmir, opens his bedroom window and, like many others in the region, wonders: Where is the snow?

“This has never happened before in January. Not in my lifetime,” said Mr. Malik, 65. “Definitely not in Gulmarg.”

Each winter, Gulmarg, one of Asia’s largest and highest ski resort towns, attracts thousands of skiers, many from as far away as Europe and the Americas, drawn by perfect powder, cheap hotels and breathtaking views of the Himalayas.

At 8,500 feet, this scrappy ski town’s miles of slopes are usually blanketed by snow from December to March and packed with snowboarders and skiers.

But this year, there is no snow.

Across Kashmir and other parts of the Himalayas in northern India, a prolonged dry spell is spreading fear among farmers, and threatening tourism and skiing industries that generate millions of dollars each year.

Like much of South Asia, Kashmir is experiencing extreme weather patterns, including record summer heat waves that lead to rapid melting of glaciers that are a major water source for the region’s eight million people.

Today, even at the 13,800-foot summit of Gulmarg, there are vast tracts of land that should be frosty white but are instead brown and green. Parking lots are empty, and hotels are reporting cancellations.

Javed Rehman, a tourism official in Kashmir, said that no snow essentially means no tourism this time of year. It is a stark contrast to 2023, when the resort extended the ski season by 15 days, to April 15, because of an influx of people, he said.

“During winters, Gulmarg, for most tourists, is the most important destination in their itinerary, with other places as supplementary additions,” he said.

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