KARACHI, Jan 4: Intense cold weather persisted all over the country on Wednesday, especially the Quetta Valley and other parts of Balochistan experiencing frosty weather for the third consecutive day.
Kalat recorded lowest temperature in the country at minus 14 degrees Celsius and fog continued to envelop Punjab plains.
Temperature in Quetta dropped to minus 13 degrees Celsius with a maximum temperature of 4.7 degrees Celsius.
Several accidents occurred because of ground frost and frozen snow on roads.
The Met Office on Wednesday forecast severe cold weather for hilly areas while foggy weather was likely to prevail in the plains of Punjab during the next 24 hours.
The federal capital was expected to experience partly cloudy weather on Thursday.
KARACHI: The city experienced another cold day on Wednesday although the minimum temperature rose to 7.5 Celsius from Wednesday’s six Celsius.
Officials at the Pakistan Meteorological Department said the minimum and maximum temperatures during the next 24 hours would range between seven and nine Celsius, respectively.
Chief Meteorologist Arif Mehmood said temperature usually dropped to eight or nine degrees every winter in Karachi, but the current temperatures were the lowest recorded in nine years. “In 1996, the mercury had dropped to 5.7 degrees Celsius,” he added.
The Met official said Karachi normally received winds from south-westerly and westerly direction. “But because of the recent change in weather, the city is currently receiving gusty winds from northerly and north-westerly direction,” he added.
He said humidity had also fallen to 12 per cent.
The meteorologist recalled that Jan 21, 1934 was the coldest day in Karachi when the mercury dropped to zero Celsius. “The current cold weather spell will be followed by a rise in temperature in a couple of days,” he added.
Because of the cold, city streets were largely deserted in the evening. The worst affected were the street people who made bonfires to keep themselves warm. Soup vendors and tea stalls did roaring business.
Cold weather and the fog in the north of the country led to late arrival of several trains such as Karakoram Express, Tezgam Express, Alama Iqbal Express, Bahauddin Zakarya Express, Shah Farid Express and Karachi Express. A night coach, which was scheduled to arrive in the morning, reached here in the evening.
Similarly, the foggy weather delayed the arrival of buses from upcountry as the highway police closed the traffic after midnight due to poor visibility.
PPI adds: Local met Office forecast frosty weather to prevail in the Quetta Valley while cold and dry weather in other parts of the province during the next 24 hours.
Minimum temperature recorded in Kalat today was minus 14 Celsius and maximum temperature of 3 Celsius. In Dalbandin, the minimum temperature was minus 9.5, minus 7 in Zhob and Murree, minus 5 in Gilgit, minus 6 in Nokundi and minus 1 degree Celsius at Muzaffarabad.
Minimum temperatures in other major cities: Islamabad 1 degree Celsius, Lahore 4 Celsius, Peshawar 2 Celsius, Multan zero degree Celsius and Faisalabad 3 degrees Celsius.
