ISLAMABAD: Temperatures in the capital dropped to 4°C and are likely to fall further due to the arrival of clouds from the west, as the coldest month of the year approaches.

The Met Office has said that clouds and shallow westerlies are approaching, which is likely to affected the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the north of the country up until Sunday morning. However, the system is scattered and will only bring isolated rainfall.

Light rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms, winds and snowfall over the hills, is expected in a few locations in the Quetta, Malakand, Hazara and Rawalpindi divisions, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Fata and Kashmir.

A Met Office official said the system is not strong enough to bring widespread rain to the region, but soft winds from the west and northwest would bring a chill in the air.

“Although November is among the driest months of the year for South Asia, and there are few spells of rain in October as well, this year some discrepancies have disturbed rainfall in Pakistan and

northern India,” the official said, adding: “The recent strong rainfall in Saudi Arabia too was part of this discrepancy, as the region was part of the Arabian high, which repulses rainfall, bringing clouds towards South Asia.”

Satellite imagery on the Met Office website shows huge cloud formations over Central Asia and western Siberia, moving towards the subcontinent.

However, the official added that winds from the Arabian desert moving towards the Persian Gulf are likely to fizzle out clouds by pushing them further, towards western China and southern Siberia.

There is currently a large difference between daily highs and lows in the capital, where the temperature reached 23°C and fell as low as 4°C.

The official said two hazy days on Saturday and Sunday are likely to drop daytime temperatures significantly.

Cold and dry conditions will prevail across the country, resulting in foggy conditions over the plains of Punjab and upper Sindh in the morning hours.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2017