Cold wave grips south Punjab: Thick fog disrupts flights, trains schedule

MULTAN: Cold wave and thick fog Wednesday gripped the south Punjab region after Tuesday’s rain. According to Met Office, the cold wave will persist in south Punjab. Thick fog was observed on city roads and highways. The temperature in Multan dropped to 3 degrees centigrade first time in the history of the city.

It is expected that fog would start decreasing from Thursday (today) and temperature will rise. However, the temperature will remain between 12 degrees centigrade to 19 degrees centigrade during the current month. Due to thick fog Motorway police closed M-3 from Abdul Hakim to Faizpur, M-4 from Shorkot to Khanewal and Faisalabad to Gujranwala.

The fog reduced visibility to 50 meters on motorways. The fog also affected flights schedule at Multan International Airport where the visibility was just 150 meters with eight degrees centigrade temperature. The Qatar Airline flight QR-618 could not land at the airport due to fog. Similarly, a flight from Doha failed to land.

Pakistan International Airline flight PK-294 coming from Sharjah was diverted to Karachi, airport officials said. The Fly Dubai flight FZ-325 failed to land at airport. The Qatar Airline flight QR-618 was diverted to Lahore.

The fog also affected schedule of goods and passenger trains. The Shah Hussein Express coming from Karachi reached Multan Cantonment railways station seven hours late. The Pakistan Express coming from Karachi reached eight hours late.

Similarly, Taizgam Express reached after 5.5 hours delay, Zakariya and Khaiber Mail Express were also late for five hours. Farmers termed the winter rains as beneficial to their wheat and gram crops. Punjab Agriculture Information senior official Naveed Asmat Kahloon said that recent rain spell is beneficial to gram crop in Thal and desert regions. He said the current weather is good for wheat crop. However, the low minimum temperature would cause frost damage in vegetables such as potato, peas, brinjal, tomato and fodder crops too, he said.

The consecutive rain spells with some intervals, would be a blessing for all seasonal crops, fruit orchids and vegetables, he said. The global warming is the prime cause behind the present paradigm shift in weather and it would help overcoming water shortage, improving ground water level and strengthening swiftly depleting water reservoirs of the country, he added.