Rain turns weather chilly in twin cities

Islamabad
The heavy rain and snowfall in hilly areas on Sunday turned weather a bit chilly in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The rain also brought good news for farmers, particularly wheat growers.
The Meteorological Department said that the current westerly wave in upper parts of the country is likely to persist for the next 24-48 hours. As the westerly wave is gradually moving from the north and the west towards central Punjab, Rawalpindi and Islamabad have been witnessing cloudy weather for last two days. During this period, isolated rain with snowfall was witnessed over the hills of Murree and Galliat, upper Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Medical practitioners told ‘The News’ that after the chill in the air, dengue mosquitoes would take shelter inside houses and other places and affect the residents if the district administration failed to carry out indoor residual spray (IRS).
Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Director Dr. Muhammad Hanif said that in most parts of the country, including the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, cloudy weather is expected till Monday. The next spell of rain with thunderstorm is expected in the first week of November, he said. He said that people would face cold weather from the first week of November.
On Sunday morning, heavy rain created inconvenience for road-users, especially pedestrians, as rainwater accumulated on roads and streets. Some roads and streets have been dug up for laying waterlines, sewers or other utility services with mud dumped alongside.
On the other hand, the sale of warm clothes has increased manifold in the city as winter season is going to set in soon. All kinds of clothes and accessories, including gloves, woollen caps, mufflers, pullovers, sweaters and jackets are seen hanging in front of shops and stalls of weekly bazaars to attract customers. A large number of people, both poor and middle class, can be seen bargaining with retailers in markets and weekly bazaars. With temperature dipping down for a couple of days, the sale of warm clothes has registered an enormous surge in Sunday bazaars.
Vendors and dealers are doing brisk business nowadays as the demand of their clothes has increased manifold.
“My business is going well currently. It will gain momentum after second spell of rain,” said Mushtaq Shaikh, a stallholder at Saddar.