SWAT: Snowfall in hilly areas of Swat, Orakzai district and its adjoining mountains, Abbottabad and Galiyat and rain in some plain areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday turned the weather severely cold.

In Swat, the snowfall began early in the morning in Malam Jabba, Gabin Jabba, Mankiyal, Pishmal, Kalam, Utror, Gabral, Matiltan and other high altitude parts of the district and it continued intermittently throughout the day.

A fresh spell of rain that began in the plains of the district, including Mingora, Khwazakhela, Matta, Kabal and Barikot tehsils, turned the weather severely cold.

The intense cold caused by the fresh snow made living conditions more challenging for the residents in the snowbound regions.

Meanwhile, a large number of tourists from Peshawar, Mardan, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and other areas thronged Malam Jabba, Gabin Jabba and Kalam to witness the snowfall.

“After proper planning in view of the weather forecast we reached Malam Jabba on Wednesday night and woke up the next morning to the snowfall excitement,” said Ibrar Ahmad, a tourist from Islamabad who was enjoying snowfall along with his family.

The tourists in Malam Jabba said they loved to visit the ski resort during winter because it offered them multiple fun activities, including skiing, tubing, snow sliding and a ride on chairlift.

In Abbottabad, temperature dropped below freezing point as Galiyat received a heavy snowfall and rain on Thursday.

The Galiyat Development Authority (GDA) has directed the staff to remain vigilant and remove snow from Abbottabad-Nathiagali road.

GDA spokesman Ahsan Hameed said the snow removing operation would continue to keep the roads open to traffic and all possible facilities would be provided to the tourists.

Control rooms are fully functional in Nathiagali and Changla Gali where traffic police and Rescue 1122 officials have been deployed.

A large number of tourists came to enjoy the snowfall while the traffic police issued an advisory for tourists to exercise extreme caution while driving on the hilly roads.

Our correspondent reported from Kohat that the whole Orakzai district and its adjoining mountains of Darra Adamkhel, Sher Kot, Dana Khula and Mohammadzai town of Kohat received the first snowfall of the year besides rain in the plains making the weather frosty on Thursday.

Severe cold conditions already persist in the region forcing the people to remain indoors after rainfall started on Wednesday.

There was no gas in Orakzai and some areas of Kohat and the people burnt wood collected from jungles and coal to keep their houses and cattle warm, a local resident Khan Zaman told this scribe on phone.

The upper, lower and central Orakzai, including areas of Kalaya, Mamozai, Dabori, Samana, Tirah, Mishti Mela and Sampog, received heavy snowfall which continued till filing of this report.

In Swabi, the first rain of winter season broke the prolonged dry spell on Thursday.

Talking to Dawn, the local farmers said that the rain was timely and it would have positive impact on the wheat crop.

Jabeen Qamar, an agricultural expert, said the winter rains strengthened wheat crop and this was the proper time for farmers to use fertiliser to get better yield.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2022