ISLAMABAD: Dust-thunderstorms and rain hit northern and central parts of the country and are likely to continue until Thursday, hampering ongoing wheat threshing in several areas.

The weather system also brought light rainfall and a mild thunderstorm to the twin cities and other parts of north Punjab.

Widespread dust-thunderstorms and rain, with a few moderate to heavy isolated spells of rain and strong winds, are expected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in the Quetta, Kalat, Zhob, Nasirabad and Sibbi divisions in northeast Balochistan.

The Met Office has added that apart from rain in Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir, hailstorms are expected in isolated areas in upper Punjab, upper KP and Kashmir.

Many parts of South Punjab are also likely to be affected by the weather system, which is coming from the west and southwest.

Isolated thunderstorms are expected in the Sukkur division of Sindh as well.

The Met Office has said that a westerly wave entered western areas Tuesday and may affect upper and central parts of the country until Thursday, persisting over the northern areas until Friday.

At the same time, mainly dry weather is expected in most of the country and temperatures will be high in the plain areas of Punjab and Sindh.

The temperature in the capital this month has been mostly above the average temperature of 30°C.

Regular rainfall in April has maintain mild temperatures and the highest of the month was 36°C on Monday. The temperature fell to 35°C on Tuesday due to cloudy weather.

This was still well below the highest temperature recorded in Islamabad in April, which was 40.6°C in 1999.

The minimum temperature in Islamabad in this month was 4°C in April 1994.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2019