December 29, 2008	Monday	Zilhaj 30, 1429

LAHORE, Dec 28: A thick blanket of fog enveloped Lahore and some parts of Punjab for the second day on Sunday, disrupting rail, road and air traffic.

People had a glimpse of the sun only for some time around noon.

The air traffic was worst hit, leaving people stranded at the Lahore airport. Trains were late by up to 10 hours with passengers braving the biting cold on open platforms.

There was an extraordinary rush of vehicles on motorway throughout the day, but it was closed in the evening to prevent any accident because of poor visibility.

“We are moving at a snail’s pace. There are countless vehicles moving in four lanes and the motorway has been closed for those coming to Lahore,” said a passenger going to Islamabad.

Traffic also moved at a slow place on the GT Road which was covered with thick fog.

In Lahore, fog reduced the visibility to just 20 metres at 5am. It improved at 11am, but again started reducing by 2pm. The maximum temperature dropped from Saturday’s 16 degrees Celsius to 13 degrees. The minimum temperature was 5.8 degrees with 93 per cent humidity in the morning and 94 per cent in the evening.

The cover of fog, high humidity and low temperature increased the intensity of cold. People preferred to stay indoors, but were tormented by power breakdowns and reduced supply of gas.

Travelling on the city roads at night and in the morning was difficult because of poor visibility and there were long queues of vehicles moving slowly to avoid accidents.

The Met office said Punjab would continue to suffer from thick fog and the situation could worsen with the temperature dropping.

Besides Lahore, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Jhang, Jhelum, Toba Tek Singh, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Okara, Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Multan, and Dera Ghazi Khan were the most severely hit areas.