LAHORE, Feb 16: Day long intermittent rain in Lahore and some other cities in Punjab temporarily stalled the gradually phasing out winter on Saturday.

The rain was generated by a westerly wave that lay over northern parts of the country also giving snowfall over the hills. Morning in Lahore was fine because of the rain that began during the early hours, washing streets and plants and restoring their original green colour dimmed by dust.

Rain continued throughout the day intermittently and dropped maximum temperature to 12.5 degrees C which was 24 degrees C a few days ago because of sunny weather. People had to again wear their warm clothes as the accompanying wind was strong and cold.

The Met office also reported rain in Rawalpindi, Mandi Bahauddin, Multan, Vehari and Bahawalpur and snowfall in the northern areas.

It recorded 23mm of rain at Lahore’s Jail Road observatory and 19mm at the airport.

Mandi Bahauddin received 22mm of rain, Okara 15, Sahiwal and Gujranwala 11 (each), Sialkot airport and Toba Tek Singh, Moenjodero and Bahawalpur city 10 (each), Karachi 9, Garhi Dupatta and Kalat 8 (each), Sialkot city 7, Jacobabad and Bahawalnagar 6(each), Faisalabad, Khanpur and Shorkot 5 (each), Pattan, Jhang and Jhelum 4 (each), Muzaffarabad and Risalpur 3 (each), and Parachinar, Joharabad, Multan and Hyderabad 2 (each).

The Met office expected more thunderstorm/rain with snowfall over the hills at scattered places of northeast Punjab, Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir in the next 24 hours.

Also, thunderstorm/rain with snowfall over the hills may occur at isolated places of Malakand, Peshawar, Kohat, Hazara and Mardan divisions. While mainly cold weather was expected over the rest of the country.