LAHORE: The Met Office has forecast more rain-thunderstorm -- with snowfall over the hills -- at scattered places in the next 24 hours in upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, upper Fata, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and at isolated places in upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala and Sargodha divisions) and Islamabad.

Cold and dry weather is expected elsewhere in the country, it added.

“With low intensity, Lahore may receive a shower intermittently within the next 24 hours. On Monday, Lahore’s temperature was recorded as 15 degree centigrade (maximum) with 15mm of rain,” a Met official told Dawn.

He said Khanpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Kasur, Kot Addu, Multan, Layyah, Bhakkar, Okara, Gujranawala and Gujrat received 5mm, 4mm, 8mm, 4mm, 3mm, 13mm, 2mm, 3mm, 1mm, 5mm and 7mm rain, respectively.

Citizens relish colder weather with traditional snacks

Meanwhile, the people of Lahore were relieved after the city was hit by a hard bout of rain on Monday, chasing away the long dry spell. The day saw a grey overcast sky since early morning, while there was constant drizzling throughout the afternoon. The day rolled by more or less like that and while it got colder, much of the public could not help stop at roadside shacks for some ‘rainy treats’ like samosas, pakoras and other fried delicacies.

“In the kind of climate we have here, any rain is welcome, be it in the summers or winters,” said one man.

Roadside snack vendors also saw sales go up thanks to the weather. Like most other rainy days, traffic ended up choking at busy points. Some of the worst places included the busy Mall road artery which connects much of the downtown with other parts of the city, along with Jail Road and Ferozepur Road. At other places, traffic flowed slowly.

Heavy but brief thunderstorm began in the evening followed by a downpour. However, despite the problems, people were relieved that the dry spell that had caused a lot of respiratory problems and illnesses had now passed.

A schoolteacher, Asma, said her entire family was suffering from either a cough or cold, while one of her children’s asthma had worsened by the dry weather.

Dr Sulman Kazmi from Mayo Hospital said there had been a 30 to 40 per cent increase in patients at various health facilities, but an exact figure could not be provided. However, he said with the rain, smog levels would definitely decrease and related health issues improve.

Dr Shoaib said now the “better part” of the weather had arrived and doctors expected lesser patients than before. “We were seeing an average of eight to nine patients coming in for problems related to upper respiratory illness along with other problems,” he told Dawn. “There were many cases of sore throat, ear infections, dry cough, sneezing and runny nose, and also a lot of chest congestion.”

But the Environment Protection Department (EPD) did not see much optimism regarding smog.

Dr Tauqueer Qureshy, director labs at the EPD, said the cause of recent air pollution was mostly vehicular smoke mixed with crop burning, which exaggerated the smog. “For now, rain has brought about a change in air pollution, but this impact will disappear after 12 hours,” he said. “It is the beginning of the week, and high traffic is expected in the coming days. Pollution levels will go back to the same as before eventually.”

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2017