Above normal rainfall, snowfall forecast

Islamabad: Suggesting the continuation of the cold wave, the Pakistan Meteorological Department forecast above normal rainfall and snowfall in the country during the current month saying the temperatures will gradually increase.

In a weather advisory issued here, the PMD said the global circulations indicated the effectiveness of westerly disturbances would remain as per normal frequency in the South Asian region including Pakistan, during the month.

"The Indian Ocean Dipole will persist along its neutral position, while the El Nino, will remain in positive phase. The North Atlantic Oscillation will be swinging along the neutral value during February," it said.

The PMD said based upon the regional and global forcing factors, it was forecast that above normal rainfall would take place throughout the country. It, however, said the mountainous areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan were likely to receive above normal snowfall during the month.

"The day and night temperatures will gradually increase in February. The average night temperatures over the country are likely to be slightly above normal during the month," it said. Meanwhile, weathermen said Jan 21-Jan 31 rainfall had widely ended the extremely dry weather spell in the country.

They said the drought conditions relatively weakened in Sindh and Balochistan but several districts of both provinces despite rainfall were faced with the moderate level of drought. The weathermen said Sindh's Khairpur, Mityari, Qambar, Shadadkot, Sajawal, Sanghar, Thatta, Tharparkar and Umerkot, and Balochistan's Awaran, Bolan, Chaghi, Kech, Kharan, Noushki, Mastung, Panjgur and Gwadar areas faced drought.

They asked farmers to schedule their irrigation plans for the Rabi crop keeping in view the continuing rains. The weathermen called for measures to preserve crops and nurseries from damaging impacts of the extreme cold weather.