LAHORE – Parts of the country including the City remained in the grip of cold wave on Saturday with experts predicting the prevailing weather pattern to persist during the next couple of days.
Scattered rains in upper parts of the country, snowfall over the hills and continuously blowing winds helped maintaining the temperature to a lower level, maintaining chill in weather throughout the day on Saturday.
Though the City received no rain on Saturday, patches of clouds and windy conditions maintained chill in weather during the daytime by decreasing maximum temperature. The Lahorites preferred to stay indoors to save themselves from harsh weather conditions, reducing traffic on otherwise busy roads. Chilly weather also decreased rush at major business centres and markets.
On Saturday, maximum and minimum temperature in the City was recorded 13 degree Celsius and 04 C respectively. Relative humidity in the morning was recorded 100 per cent which decreased to 70 per cent in the evening.
According to the experts, a westerly wave persists over upper parts of the country.
Local meteorological department has forecast partly cloudy weather with mist from midnight to morning for the City during the next 24 hours. Met office has forecast rains with snowfall over the hills at scattered places of Gilgit-Balistan and Kashmir and Malakand, Hazara, Mardan and Rawalpindi divisions. Mainly dry weather has been predicted for the remaining parts of the country.
On Saturday, Kotli received 30 mm rain, Jhelum 27 mm, Mangla 23 mm, Murree 21 mm, Islamabad 17 mm, Joharabad 11 mm, Sialkot and Muzaffarabad 10 mm each, Garhi Dupatta and Balakot 06 mm each, Faisalabad 05 mm, Mandi Bahauddin 04 mm, Khanpur 02 mm, Dir, Kakul and Peshawar 01 mm each while Drosh and Saidu Sharif received traces of rain.