LAHORE - Parts of the country including Lahore received rainfall of varying intensities on Wednesday with experts predicting the wet spell to continue intermittently during the next 24 hours.

Rain-thundershower with gusty winds occurred at a number of places in upper/central Punjab, Islamabad and Kashmir and at scattered places in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, south Punjab and Barkhan.

In Lahore, overcast conditions, rains in the morning and late night and winds helped maintaining the mercury to a low level, making weather pleasant.  Maximum and minimum temperature in Lahore was recorded 30 degree Celsius and 21C respectively.

People come out of their houses in the evening to enjoy pleasant weather after the monsoon rains. Major parks and picnic spots attracted a large number of people including women and children in the evening. Huge rush was witnessed at Bagh-e-Jinnah, Greater Iqbal Park, Racecourse Park, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Jallo Park and Lahore Zoo in the evening. Massive traffic jam was witnessed in the close vicinity of entry/exit points of these picnic spots.

After two days, the city saw sunshine for a significant period in the afternoon. Despite less rains, Wasa failed to clear inundated rainwater from a number of localities, putting question mark on the performance of premier sanitation agency. Though major roads where boats were used for transportation last day were cleared from inundated rainwater, the situation was quite opposite on arteries in some housing societies. Potions of Johar Town, Westwood Colony, Ali Town, Judicial Colony, Sanda, Rivaz Garden, Mason Road, Samanabad, Wahdat Colony, Rehman Pura, Raj Garh, Islampura, Data Nagar, Gawalmandi, Makhan Pura, Misri Shah, Usman Gunj,Shahnoor, Awan Town, Hassan Town, Chamberlain Road and some other areas could not be cleared even until Wednesday night.

According to the experts, seasonal low lies over North Balochistan with its trough extending eastwards. Monsoon currents from Arabian Sea are still penetrating upper and central parts of the country and likely to weaken during next 24 hours. A westerly wave is still affecting upper parts..

Rain-thundershower with gusty winds is expected at scattered places in Zhob, D G Khan, D I Khan, Bannu divisions, Fata and at isolated places in Malakand, Hazara, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur divisions, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir. Mainly hot and humid weather is expected elsewhere in the country.