RAWALPINDI: The residents of twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad faced the biting cold and foggy weather on

Saturday as the temperature dropped to 1°C while the Met Office predicted further drop in the temperature and fog in coming days.

The Met Office said visibility reduced to 30 metres from 7am to 10am on Saturday.

Due to persistent dry weather, dense foggy conditions are likely to continue in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Peshawar, Rashakai, Mardan, Charsada, Swabi, Nowshehra and D. I. Khan), Punjab (Jhelum, Lahore, Gujranwala, Narowal, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Jhang, Sargodha, Mianwali, Toba Tek Singh, Okara, Sahiwal, Bhakkar, Layyah, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Multan, Rahimyar Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan) and Sindh (Sukkur, Larkana, Hyderabad, Moenjodaro and surrounding areas).

Very cold weather conditions will continue in Murree, Galiyat, Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir, north Balochistan and parts of upper KP, it said.

Talking to Dawn, a Met Office official said there were chances the temperature would drop to 0°C and fog would continue till the mid-week.

He said there were chances of a light rain in twin cities and snow in Murree and surrounding area next week.

On the other hand, in the cold weather, low gas pressure was reported in different parts of the twin cities.

The low gas pressure in the cold weather affected the daily routine of the residents in the city area, who demanded the government release natural gas and take action against those who installed gas compressors.

The supply of gas in the majority areas of Rawalpindi has deteriorated.

However, the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) claimed that the demand had increased in the cold weather and supply was limited.

But the residents were of the view that it was an issue of mismanagement, not the gap between demand and supply.

Due to foggy weather, several flights, including to Skardu and Gilgit, were canceled.

A senior official at Islamabad International Airport told Dawn that the flight operation was disturbed in northern areas due to bad weather there while the remaining operations were operated as per routine.

Meanwhile, due to the dry spell and dust, flu and other ailments have increased.

The government-run hospitals are receiving a large number of patients suffering from seasonal ailments on a daily basis.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2022