Scattered rain predicted

LAHORE : Cold, dry and partly cloudy weather was recorded in the city here on Saturday while Met office predicted scattered rain with increase in cold during the next 24 hours.

Met officials said a westerly wave was likely to affect upper parts of the country from today (evening/night). They predicted that rain-wind/thunderstorm (snowfall over the hills) was expected in upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan, Kashmir, upper/central Punjab, Pothohar region and Islamabad. Hailstorm was also expected at isolated places during the period while cold and dry weather was expected in other parts of the country.

The AQI in the city was 184, which came in the category of unhealthy as the PM2.5 concentrations were 20.4 times the World Health Organisation annual PM2.5 guideline value.

Saturday’s lowest minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped down to -10°C while in Lahore it was 7.7°C and maximum was 23.7°C.

Lahore second among polluted cities

The changing weather conditions also failed to reduce air pollution, and the overall air pollution rate in the city was recorded at 196.Lahore stood second in the country’s air pollution ranking.

The pollution rate around the Power Zone Head Office was 420, the rate at the US Consulate was 334, UMT 247, the pollution rate at the CERP Office was 239, while the current temperature in the city was recorded at 20 degrees Celsius.

According to the Meteorological Department, the minimum temperature is likely to be 9 and the maximum is 22 degrees, and the humidity ratio in the air was recorded at 31 per cent.

Weather forecasters say that there is a possibility of rain in Lahore on Nov 8 and 9, which will further reduce air pollution.