LAHORE: A cold wave that followed a four-day spell of rain and snowfall in the country’s hilly regions continued on Tuesday and is expected to intensify over the next two to three days, the Met Office said.

“The night temperature is likely to further drop by three to four degrees Celsius in the next two to three days,” says the Met Office’s latest forecast.

The temperature in Lahore dropped to 3 degrees Celsius on Monday night and was expected to drop to 1 degree Celsius on Tuesday night. It remained warm throughout the day as the temperature reached 18 degrees Celsius.

The Met Office forecast sunny weather in Karachi for the next 24 hours and the minimum temperature is expected to range between 9 and 11 degrees Celsius with 45 to 55 per cent humidity — a measure of the amount of humidity in the air. Dry weather with cold nights and misty and foggy mornings has been forecast for the rest of Sindh.

Cold wave to continue for two to three more days

The season’s first spell of rain and snowfall ended on Sunday and the heavy snowfall in the northern areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Galliyat and Kashmir sent a cold wave across the country.

Most areas in upper KP, Murree, Kashmir and north Balochistan have recorded sub-zero minimum temperatures since. The impact spread to the plains of KP, Punjab and even Sindh, including Karachi and other coastal areas.

With the continental air prevailing over most parts of the country, the Met Office reported that Kalam was the coldest place in the country on Tuesday with a minimum -15 degrees Celsius.

It was followed by Kalat with -10 degrees Celsius, and Quetta, Rawalakot, Astore, Hunza and Dir -8 degrees Celsius, Gupis and Skardu -7 degrees Celsius, Parachinar and Bagrote -6, Malamjabba, Zhob

and Drosh -5, Chitral and Murree -4 and Kakul and Gilgit -3 degrees Celsius.

The lowest temperature in Multan was 5 degrees Celsius, Faisalabad 3, Islamabad zero, Peshawar 2, Karachi 9 and Hyderabad 7 degrees.

The Met Office said the night temperature in Karachi and other coastal areas was likely to drop over the next two days, while some plain areas of KP and Punjab may experience frost and fog as well.

Published in Dawn January 11th, 2017