Chill revisits; rain spell to persist

LAHORE

Scattered but heavy rain caused by a westerly wave has cooled down the city’s rising temperature here Thursday while Met office predicted more rain during the next 24 hours.

Met officials said a westerly wave is affecting upper and central parts of the country and likely to persist till Saturday. They predicted that rain-thunderstorm (with light snowfall over the hills) associated with gusty winds is expected at scattered places in Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir, upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Lahore, Faisalabad divisions), while at isolated places in upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat divisions) and upper Fata.

Hailstorm may occur in upper Punjab and Kashmir during this period while gusty/dust raising winds are likely to blow in Sindh and Balochistan, Met office added.

In the provincial capital, rain was observed at various localities, including Johar Town, Township, Ichhara, Mozang, Samanabad, Railway Station, Malipura, Sultanpura, Mughalpura, Cantt, Defence, Gulberg, Shadman, Yateem Khana and etc. The rain also affected city’s transport system as traffic jams were reported on various main roads.  Rainfall was observed at various cities, including Gujranwala (41mm), Lahore (28mm), Sargodha (15mm), Sialkot Cantt (14mm), Bhakkar (12mm), Chakwal (11mm), Murree, Noorpur Thal and Mianwali (10mm), Lahore AP (09mm), Faisalabad and Mangla (08mm), Jhelum and Kasur (06mm), Toba Tek Singh, Mandi Bahauddin and Okara (03mm), Islamabad (Saidpur (08mm), Golra (06mm), ZP, Bokra (03mm), Jhang (02mm), Rawalpindi (Shamsabad (02mm), Chaklala (01mm), Kamra (01mm) Cherat (26mm), Pattan (23mm), Abbottabad (15mm), Balakot (14mm), Malam Jabba (11mm), Kohat (08mm), Dir (06mm), Saidu Sharif (05mm), Lower Dir (04mm), D.I Khan and Parachinar (03mm), Kalam (01mm), Garhi Dupatta (18mm), Muzaffarabad (16mm), Rawalakot (09mm), Kotli (06mm), Gilgit (02mm) and Bunji (01mm). Snowfall was recorded at Malam Jabba (06inch), Murree (04inch) and Astore (01inch).

Thursday’s lowest minimum temperature was recorded at Astore and Skardu where mercury dropped down to -02°C while in Lahore, minimum temperature dropped down to 10°C. Similarly maximum temperature also came down to 17°C while humidity in the air had increased to 73 percent.