LAHORE: The persistent dense fog kept the pace of life slow in the plains of Punjab again on Saturday, and there seems no respite against it in the next few days.

Fog has been disrupting air, road and rail traffic for the past around one week, restricting movement of people and goods especially during nights and in the morning.

The accompanying low temperatures are more than the tolerance level of people who are finding it hard to stay warm even during the day time as fog is robbing them of the much needed sunshine.

Fog that developed in Lahore and several other cities in central and north-eastern Punjab early on Friday night continued till in the afternoon, keeping daytime maximum temperature low which was too much for the elderly and the children.

Fog cleared in Lahore in the afternoon but mist afterwards blocked sun from fully warming up the city. The maximum temperature was 14 degrees Celsius and the minimum on Friday night three degrees Celsius. But as fog again started blanketing the city in the evening, the temperature started to quickly drop. It was 7 degrees Celsius at 8:30pm with 600-meter visibility.

The Met office reported dense fog in Bahawalnagar, Faisalabad, Jhang, Jhelum, Khanpur, Mandi Bahauddin, Multan, Okara, Sahiwal, Sialkot, Toba Tek Singh and Rahim Yar Khan.

The maximum temperature in the worst-hit Mandi Bahauddin was 9 degrees Celsius, Gujrat 8.5, Gujranwala 8, Faisalabad 11.5, Jhelum 12 and Kasur 12.5.

Lahore airport remained closed on Friday night and Saturday morning due to fog-generated poor visibility.

Motorway from Lahore to Pindi Bhattian was blanketed with dense fog and vehicles were escorted by the motorway police for safety.

The Met office said Skardu was the coldest town in the country with -10 degrees Celsius minimum temperature. It was followed by Astore -9, Gupis -7, Gilgit and Quetta -6, Parachinar and Hunza -5., Kalat, Dir, Kalam -4, Lower Dir, Dalbandin, Drosh -3 Dir, Malamjabba -2, and Bunji, Dera Ismael Khan, Zhob, Saidu Sharif,and Murree -1.

It forecast very cold and dry weather in most parts of the country in the next 24 hours. Dense foggy conditions will continue in Gujranwala, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Bahawalpur and Sahiwal divisions, while it will remain foggy in Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Dera Ghazi Khan, Peshawar, Dera Ismael Khan and Sukkur divisions during night and morning hours.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2014