LAHORE, Feb 17: The rare westerly system affecting Pakistan at present is likely to cause more rain and snowfall in Punjab and Northern Areas during the next 12 to 24 hours, says the local met office.

On Monday, Rawlakot received 204mm of rain between 8am to 5pm, a winter record. Hyderabad recorded over 100mm of rain during the past 24 hours and Astore 3-foot snowfall.

In Lahore, the rain was light and intermittent throughout the day but it turned heavy in the evening.

According to Chief Meteorologist Shaukat Ali Awan, the rare westerly system is generating widespread and heavy rain simultaneously in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and western parts of India.

He said the central part of the thick magnitude system would cause heavy rainfall in Sheikhu-pura, Farooqabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Jhelum, Islamabad, Mangla, Haripur, the Salt Range areas and along the motorway and GT Road during the next 12 hours.

Mr Awan said the NWFP and the Northern Areas, including Kashmir, would continue to receive heavy rain and snowfall during the next 24 hours. But the system would move out of Sindh and Balochistan after 12 hours.

“These areas receive torrential rains only because of special monsoon systems. And the westerly causing monsoon like rain in the length and breadth of the country is significant because of its wide range,” Mr Awan said.

“Normally, the westerly system which causes rain in winter is sharp and short and moves out quickly,” he said.

The Met office reported that between 8am to 5pm on Monday Muzaffarabad received 46mm of rain (the figure here was 49mm during Sunday night), Malam Jabba 65, Quetta 34mm, Peshawar 37mm, Murree 25mm, Islamabad 28mm, Saidu Sharif 27mm, Chorr and Rawalpindi 17mm each, Sibbi 15mm, Multan, Dera Ismail Khan and Faisalabad 13mm each, Karachi 10mm, Shorkot and Sibbi 11mm, Sargodha and Garhi Dupatta 10mm, Chillas 8mm, Badin 7mm, Dera Ghazi Khan and Sialkot 6mm each, Bahawalpur 2mm and Jacobabad 1mm.

The rain also sharply dropped temperature in the country. The minimum temperature in Murree was -5 degrees C, Parachinar -4, Malam Jabba and Astore -1 and Chitral, Dir and Skardu zero degree C.

The maximum temperature in Lahore was 19.2 degrees C and the minimum 14.7 degrees with the Met office expecting further drop during Monday night.