Cold wave persists; mercury drops to 4.8°C

LAHORE: Partly cloudy and cold weather continued to prevail in the City here on Wednesday while Met office predicted similar weather conditions for the next 24 hours.

Met office said continental air was prevailing over most areas. They predicted that mainly cold and dry weather was expected in most parts of the country while very cold in hilly areas during morning/night hours. Gusty winds were expected in most central and southern parts of the country in the afternoon. Moderate to dense fog (in patches) was likely in northeast Punjab while shallow to moderate in south Punjab and upper Sindh during morning/night hours. Frost was likely to occur at few places in Kashmir, upper Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pothohar region and upper Punjab during morning hours.

Wednesday’s minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped to -13°C while in Lahore it was 4.8°C and maximum was 22.8°C. On the other hand, the average AQI of the city was 164, which came in the category of unhealthy while the PM2.5 concentration was 14.8 times the World Health Organization annual PM2.5 guideline value. The most polluted city areas included Burki Road (408), Bedian Road (392), University of Management and Technology (188).