LAHORE: The maximum temperature in Lahore has come down by seven degrees Celsius – from 29.3 degree Celsius on Friday to 22.7 degree Celsius on Sunday, thanks to hail and thunderstorm the city received in the last 24 hours, formally inaugurating the winter season.

The minimum mercury also registered a decline (from 22 degree Celsius to 16.3) during the same period, bringing the winter feel. Coupled with high speed wind (up to 40 knots), the hailstorm gave the provincial metropolis its first cold night between Saturday and Sunday.

“This pattern (of mercury sustaining in the early twenties) would continue for the next week or so before dropping further in early November,” says an official of the metrological department. This rain producing system would be cleared in the next 24 hours. There may be some clouds during the night but by Monday, the sunshine would return., he said, and added: “The much-delayed winter has started and decline in the mercury would now continue”.

The rain and high-speed wind also helped clear the city environment. According to the Air Quality Index (AQI), Lahore’s air quality improved to 65 – from unhealthy 193 on Friday.

“This is the most important intangible impact that rain brings to the city. Intermittent showers, totaling 36 millimeters, swept the atmosphere of all harmful content and left the city the healthy zone. However, this relief may not last long and hazardous weather may return on Monday as vehicular pollution will start polluting the city roads and environment again. The forecast says that it would shoot back close to 200 mark,” says a member of a non-governmental organisation, involved the studying the city’s weather.

Dropping temperatures may also cause smog cycle as stubble burning picks pace in the first week of November and winds change direction (from India to Pakistan), bringing Indian pollution to the Pakistani side, he fears.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2021