LAHORE: Rain and thunderstorm with gusty winds in many cities, including Lahore, once again made weather pleasant on Saturday.

In Lahore, a windstorm having the velocity of 76km per hour brought in dark clouds at around 6pm. Soon rain started that was continuing at the time of the filing of this report, sharply dropping the maximum temperature from day’s 39 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celsius at 8pm.

The Met department reported dust storms and rain at isolated places in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Malakand, Hazara, Kohat divisions, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir.

Weather remained hot and dry in other parts of the country.

Chakwal received 61mm of rain, Gujrat 11, Murree 8, Mandi Bahauddin 4, Sargodha 3, Mangla 2, Dera Ghazi Khan, Jhelum, Sialkot 1, Kakul 6, Balakot 5, Kohat, Dir 2, Garidupatta, Kotli 7, Rawalakot 4.

The Met department said the westerly wave over the country would persist for two more days.

It will generate rain-thunderstorm with gusty winds at isolated places in Bannu, Kohat, Sargodha, DI Khan, Hazara, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Multan, DG Khan, Bahawalpur divisions, Fata, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir in the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, as many as 170 out of 1,600 feeders of the Lahore Electric Supply Company tripped due to thunderstorm and rain in several parts of the Punjab capital and adjoining districts on Saturday.

According to Lesco Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Syed Wajid Ali Kazmi, 70 feeders tripped in Lahore alone and 100 in Okara and Kasur districts.

Mr Kazmi told Dawn that some 132kV and 11kV distribution lines also tripped, leading to hours long outages in Lahore and other service areas of Lesco.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2017