February 20, 2003	Thursday	Zul Hijjah 18, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 19: The Met Office has forecast a bright, sunny day in most parts of the country after four days of persistent rains, mini-tornadoes and flash floods, which resulted in over 60 fatalities all over the country.

“The sun will shine in most part of the country on Thursday but in some parts of NWFP, Northern Areas and upper Punjab, the weather may remain overcast,” the Met office official told Dawn on Wednesday evening.

He said the recent wet spell was the strongest over the last 30 years during which two very unusual phenomenon of ‘micro low pressure’ were experienced in Sindh and Punjab, which caused a lot of damage.

“These were very unusual happenings and such micro low pressure areas develop only during bad cold weather, which behave like mini tornadoes. These are unpredictable and develop normally in the transitional period between winter and summer. It was a rare and unusual activity,” the Met official said.

He said rain stopped in most parts of the country and sun appeared in Balochistan and Sindh.

But intermittent showers continued throughout the day in most parts of the Punjab on the fourth day of the current wet spell on Wednesday.

“The rain will stop by mid-night on Wednesday and on Thursday the sun is likely to appear,” the Met official said. In Murree, there was no rain on Wednesday but it continued to snow throughout the day, as Murree and the adjoining areas received a two-and-a-half feet of snow on Wednesday.

“Earlier, during this winter Murree has received four feet of snow and with the Wednesday’s snowfall the total snow received by the hill station during this winter is now over six-and-a-half feet. However, the average snowfall in Murree is 10 feet in the season, as such the current season still remains below average,” the Met official said.

According to the Met office record for the last four days, Rawalakot received the highest rainfall of 356mm followed by Garhi dopatta with 347mm.

Other cities, which received rain were Murree 291mm, Kotli 262mm, Balakot 258mm, Abbottabad 232mm, Islamabad 211mm, Attock 196mm, Dir 179mm, Saidu Sharif 175mm, Jehlum 163mm, Rawalpindi 154mm, Sialkot 140mm, Peshawar 135mm, Lahore 111mm, Hyderabad 106mm, Chakwal 104, Parachinar 102mm, Faisalabad 94mm, Quetta 83mm, Gujranwala 74mm, Bahawalnagar 48mm, Sargodha 41mm, Mianwali 39mm, Rahimyar Khan 38mm, Gilgit 29mm, Kohat 28mm, D.I. Khan 27mm, Banu 25mm, Multan 23mm and Chohr 20mm.

Kalam and Malam Jabba received five feet of snow each followed by Murree 3ft, Parachinar 2ft, Babusar Pass 1.5ft, Rawalakot 1.5ft, Astore 1ft and Chilas 6inch on Wednesday.

According to the Met office the weather will remain cold and dry in most parts of the country while in Kashmir, upper Punjab, upper NWFP and some other places there are chances of more rain and snowfall on the mountains.