LAHORE: Light rain and snowfall over the hills, and dense fog in many cities in the plain areas made the weather cold and affected life in most parts of the country on Wednesday.

Fog in the plain areas caused tripping of power stations disrupting power supply in most parts of Punjab. Tripping of feeders within cities like in Lahore greatly affected life and business.

The Met department reported that rain, snowfall and fog kept temperatures low in the country. The minimum temperature in Skardu was -8 degrees C, Gupis -7, Astore, Bagrote and Kalam -4, Malamjabba and Kalat -3, Parachinar, Murree, Rawalakot, Quetta and Dir -2. It was 3 in Lahore and Jhang, 3.4 in Dera Ghazi Khan and 3.5 in Narowal.

Murree received 13mm of rain, Islamabad 7mm, Rawalpindi 5mm, Balakot 15mm, Pattan 9mm, Kakul 8mm, Dir, Kalam and Malamjabba 6mm, Parachinar 3mm, Chitral, Drosh, Saidu Sharif and Mirkhani 1mm, Rawalakot 12mm, Muzaffarabad 10mm and Bagrote 1mm.

Murree recorded 5 inch of snowfall, Kalam and Malamjabba 3, and Hunza and Gupis 1.

Fog reduced visibility to just 10 metres in Kasur, 50 in Sialkot, 100 in Sahiwal, Kot Addu and Gujranwala, 300 in Bahawalpur, and 500 in Faisalabad, Gujrat, Jhang, and Sukkur.

Fog thickened in Lahore on Wednesday morning reducing visibility to 50 metres at the airport around 8am. But it shortly cleared therefore there was no impact on the flight schedule.

The motorway police reported dense fog at the national highway from Lahore to Manga Mandi, Pattoki, Renala Khurd and Okara. Sahiwal, Harrapa, Chichawatni, Mian Channu and Khanewal too remained fogbound.

Motorway from Multan to Khanewal and Lahore to Sheikhupura was closed to all types of traffic during the early hours of Wednesday.

The Met department forecast mainly cold and dry weather in most parts of the country in the next 24 hours. Foggy conditions are expected in the plains of Punjab, upper Sindh and Peshawar division during morning/night hours. Frost is also expected in few upper parts of the country in morning hours.

A blanket of fog developed on Wednesday night prompting the authorities to close the motorway from Lahore to Kot Momin.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2019