LAHORE: Windstorms and heavy rain, probably the last of the almost ended monsoon season, lashed many cities in the country including Lahore on Saturday, considerably dropping temperatures.

In Lahore, rain, that was very heavy in northern parts of the city, gave a hint of a change in weather for, it considerably dropped temperature and also ended the mugginess being caused by the incursion of monsoon currents for the past three days.

The Met department recorded 59mm of rain at its Jail Road observatory and 18mm at the airport. But reports indicated that over 90mm of rain recorded in Misri Shah, 52mm at Lakshmi Chowk, 41 in Allama Iqbal Town, 45mm in the Walled City and 44mm in Mughalpura.

Strong wind that accompanied rain uprooted trees, plants and bill boards.

The Met department also reported rain in many cities that included Sialkot (Airport 70mm, City 60), Rawalpindi (Chaklala 65, Shamsabad 25), Islamabad (Airport 59, Golra 34, Bokra 33, Zero Point 12, Saidpur 6), Gujranwala 41, Mangla 34, Narowal 19, Toba Tek Singh 13, Murree, Gujrat 11, Jhelum 7, Chakwal, Hafizabad 6, Joharabad 5, Okara, Attock 4, Mandi Bahauddin 3, Balakot 33, Malam Jabba, Kakul 11, Kotli 3 and Rawalakot 2.

It forecast rain/wind-thunderstorm at scattered places in all districts of Kashmir including Muzaffarabad, districts of Punjab (Gujranwala, Narowal, Sialkot, Gujrat, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur) during the next 24 hours.

Isolated rain was also expected in districts of Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Chakwal and Islamabad, districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Dir, Swat, Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu, D.I.Khan) and in districts of lower Sindh (Mirpur Khas, Thatta, Karachi and Badin).

The Met office also expected more rains in Jhelum and Mirpur (the earthquake-hit Azad Kashmir district) till Wednesday.

Jatlan, Khari Sharif, Jhari Kass, Bhimber in Azad Kashmir will also be affected by rain during the next three to four days.

Relief activities might be affected during the period, the department said, asking authorities concerned to make their plans accordingly.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2019