LAHORE: The strong westerly system began giving widespread rain/thunderstorm with snowfall over the hills in Balochistan and other parts of the country, including Lahore, on Friday.

The Met department said it also affected Malakand, Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Sargodha, Dera Ghazi Khan, Gujranwala, Sukkur, Larkana divisions. Drizzle also occurred in Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Hyderabad and Shaheed Benazirabad divisions.

Parachinar recorded 16mm of rain, Bannu 15, Dera Ismail Khan 13, Dir 2, Kalam 1, Dalbandin 10, Khuzdar 8, Kalat 7, Nokkundi 6, Lasbella, Pasni 4, Turbat, Barkhan 2, Bhakkar 8, Noorpurthal, Sialkot, Layyah 1, Murree, Sargodha, Larkana, Jaccobabad 01,

The weather system dropped the minimum temperature in Astore to -11 degrees C. It was followed by Kalam -10, Gupis, Skardu -6, Parachinar, Malamjabba, Bagrote -5, Hunza -3, Drosh, Dir, Mirkhani -2.

The Met department expected widespread rain/thunderstorm (with snowfall over hills) accompanied by windstorm in Quetta, Zhob, Kalat, Makran, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad divisions, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha divisions), Islamabad, Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, while at scattered places in Sibbi, Naseerabad, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Lahore, Faisalabad divisions, and at isolated places in Sahiwal, Bahawalpur, Mirpurkhas and Karachi divisions in the next 24 hours.

Heavy falls may cause flash flooding in local nullah/riverine of Balochistan and hill torrents of DG Khan and trigger landslides in Malakand, Hazara, Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir during the period.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2019