LAHORE: Another spell of monsoon rains, with isolated heavy falls, is expected to start in upper parts of the country and Punjab from Wednesday (today).

The Met Office says more rain/thundershowers with isolated heavy falls is expected at scattered places of Islamabad, Upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Malakand, Hazara, Mardan, Peshawar, Kohat divisions), Fata, Upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Lahore divisions), Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir during the next 48 hours. Rain/thundershowers are also expected at a few places of Sahiwal and Bahawalpur divisions.

It says that due to intermittent rains, there would be risk of landslides in hilly areas of Upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Malakand, Hazara divisions), Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir on Wednesday and Thursday, asking the authorities concerned to remain alert.

The spell would be caused by a mix of moderate moist monsoon currents penetrating upper and eastern parts of the country and a shallow cold and dry westerly wave already affecting the upper parts of the country. The wave is likely to persist during the next four days. The department says the rains would be accompanied by gusty winds at places.

Meanwhile, north-eastern parts of Lahore received good rain on Tuesday to much relief of people being hard hit by oppressive mugginess in the past two days. The rain nevertheless added to the humidity level in the central, western and southern parts of the city where it remained dry, adding to the woes of the people.

The Met Office said it remained hot and humid in most parts of the country.

However, rain-thundershowers with gusty winds occurred at isolated places in Islamabad, Malakand, Hazara, Bannu, Kohat, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala divisions and Gilgit-Baltistan. Mirkhani in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa received 23mm of rain, Kalam 13, Kohat 7, Bannu 6, Balakot 5, Pattan 3 and Dir 1mm. Kotli received 12mm, Muzaffarabad 5, Garhi Dupatta 1, Kamra 18, Murree, Gujrat 6, Islamabad 5, Sialkot 4mm rain.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2017