LAHORE: Rain in major parts of the country and snowfall over the hills on Sunday dragged the fast outgoing winter back, forcing people to don their winter wear once again.

The Met office said this was the opening spell of a trough of western low pressure that lay over central and upper Pakistan. It had widespread rain, heavy at places even over the catchment areas of rivers, and snowfall in store for the next 24 hours.

Rain in Lahore and several other cities in Punjab was light but persistent during the day. Dark clouds continued to hover the entire day, and began to dump heavy rain in the city in the evening.

Lahore’s maximum temperature dropped to 16.2 degrees Celsius, making the wind pleasantly cold.

Garhi Dupatta received 24mm of rain, Rawalakot 23, Chakwal 21, Toba Tek Singh 19, Islamabad airport 15, Johrabad and Jhang 14 each, Bahawalnagar and Murree 13 each, Barkhan, Sargodha and Mangla 12 each, Islamabad Zero Point 11, Mandi Bahauddin 10, Peshawar City 9mm, Rahim Yar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad, Malamjabba and Noorpur Thal 8mm each, Muzaffarabad, Sukkur, Jhelum and Sahiwal 7mm each, Sialkot Airport, Lahore City, Gujrat, Gujranwala and Kotli 6mm each.

The Met office forecast cloudy weather with thunderstorm-rain and hailstorm (at some places) along with chances of isolated heavy falls in Lahore in the next 24 hours.

Widespread thunderstorm-rain with snowfall over the hills associated with gusty winds is likely over Fata, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab (including Islamabad), Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir. Further, thunderstorm-rain could ensue at a few places in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpur Khas, Sukkur, Quetta, Sibbi and Zhob divisions.

There are vast chances of isolated to scattered heavy to very heavy falls over Bahawalpur division, upper and central Punjab (including Islamabad), Fata, upper and central KP, Kashmir along with upper catchments of Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers.

On account of these heavy to very heavy downpours, there would be a rise in water of all rivers, tributaries and nullahs of the Indus River System. Also, in these areas localised urban flooding could not be ruled out.

Published in Dawn March 2nd , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play