LAHORE: Fog continued to blanket several cities in the plain areas of the country including Lahore on Tuesday because of low temperatures and humidity, and the Met department said a westerly wave might remove it from Thursday to Sunday.

According to the Met department, fog reduced visibility to just 10 metres in Jacobabad, 50 in Multan, Bhalwal, Sahiwal, Balakot, Bahawalpur, Dadu and Sukkur, 100 in Lahore, Jhang, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Rahim Yar Khan, 200 in Jhelum, Toba Tek Singh, Hafizabad, Bahawalnagar, Kasur, Khanewal, Larkana and Nawabshah, and 300 in Khanpur and Mandi Bahauddin.

Temperatures remained low because of fog. The minimum temperature in majority cities in Punjab remained around 5 degrees C. It was 4.7 at the Lahore airport.

Astore was the coldest place in the country with -12 degrees minimum temperature. It was followed by Skardu, Kalam, Gupis, Bagrote -8, Hunza -7, Parachinar, Kalat -5, Malam Jabba, Gilgit, Dir, Rawalakot -4, Quetta -2, and Murree, Kakul and Mirkhani -1.

The Met department expected many cities in the plain areas to remain fog bound during Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning.

But it expected elimination of fog from Thursday to Sunday because of a fresh western disturbance that is likely to approach from Thursday to Sunday and cause rain/thunderstorm and snowfall at high mountains, and isolated places of western and northern parts of the country.

At present, a mid-latitude cyclonic circulation is prevailing over northwest China and its trough is extended up to the upper half of Pakistan. This trough is transporting cold air from the north/northwest into Pakistan and causing cold conditions in the upper parts of the country.

Meanwhile, the Met department said three to four western disturbances are likely to approach Pakistan during the current month, which may cause light to moderate rainfall at scattered places of the western, central and northern parts of the country.

The fourth week of the month is expected to be rainy. Snowfall is also likely over high mountains in north Balochistan, Kashmir and northern areas of Pakistan.

A cold wave may approach during the third and fourth week which may significantly drop daily night temperatures in most parts of the country.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2019