LAHORE, Feb 19: The rare westerly system currently affecting the country started moving out fast on Wednesday after giving heavy rain to the plains of the Punjab and in the NWFP and the Northern Areas during the previous night.

In Lahore, it continued to rain almost the entire previous night and on Wednesday morning. Clouds started clearing in the afternoon but many low-lying areas were inundated till the evening. The rain again started at 9:45pm.

According to the Met office, the system gave fairly widespread and heavy rain from Sheikhupura to Jhelum in the Punjab and in the NWFP and the Northern Areas during the previous night and on Wednesday morning.

“The westerly system is fast moving out of the country and at present it is affecting Nepal,” Chief Meteorologist Shaukat Ali Awan said.

He said the remaining portion of the westerly wave would be cleared from the Northern Areas and the NWFP by Thursday. This would be followed by another mild system from Afghanistan but it would give light rain mainly to the NWFP and the Northern Areas, he said.

According to the local Met office, from 8am to 5pm Lahore and Saidu Sharif received 6mm of rain, Kalam 28mm, Balakot 20mm, Dir 17mm, Muzaffarabad 16mm, Sialkot 14mm, Kotli 13mm, Faisalabad 10mm and Kakul 7mm.

Till 8am, Muzaffarabad and Jhelum had received 93mm of rain, Balakot 84mm, Lahore airport 63mm and City 55mm, Islamabad 55 and airport 48mm, Kamra 37mm, Gilgit 26mm, Skardu 23mm, Sargodha 21mm, Shorkot 20mm, Saidu Sharif 19mm, Kotli 14mm, Dera Ghazi Khan 13mm, Bahawalnagar and Risalpur 12mm, Khanpur and Kakul 9mm, Multan 8mm, Dir 7mm, and Dera Ghazi Khan 3mm.

The Met office has predicted more rain in several cities in the Punjab and the NWFP, saying it would be fairly widespread with snowfall over the hills in Azad Kashmir, Gilgit and Skardu during the next 24 hours.

It will remain partly cloudy in Lahore where the day’s maximum temperature dropped from Tuesday’s 20.2 degrees to 15.5 degrees.