RAWALPINDI: The Met Office has predicted light rain in Rawalpindi and Islamabad and snowfall in Murree and adjoining hilly areas, which will likely drop the temperature to -1 Celsius.

According to a Met official, a westerly wave was affecting the upper parts of the country, with cold and cloudy weather expected in most parts of the country.

Speaking about the twin cities, the official said wet weather is expected throughout the coming week, adding that it would probably rain on Sunday and Monday morning and after a couple of days, the twin cities would likely receive another spell of rain from Wednesday.

The official said rain and fog were also expected in north Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir whereas shallow fog was likely to prevail over upper Sindh, plain areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Talking about the cloudy weather that has gripped Islamabad, he explained that there was no fog in the federal capital but the clouds had “overshadowed the sun”.

Explaining the difference between fog in plains and Potohar, he said in the Potohar region, due to strong winds, moisture does not accumulate in the atmosphere. In Punjab, however, water from “canals and rivers in the province mixes with air and results in thick which usually grips” these plains during winter.

He said that fog was harmless as compared to smog as smog was a mixture of fog and smoke in the air which resulted in health complications.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 1 Celsius in Islamabad and Rawalpindi during the past week.

“The temperature has not dropped to zero yet,” the official said, adding that biting cold felt by the residents of the twin cities was due to the moisture winds coming from the plain areas of Punjab.

On the other hand, the Punjab government asked the Murree administration and local police to complete arrangements to avoid any untoward incident like in January last year when over a dozen people died due to a snowstorm.

The government asked the management committee under the chairmanship of the deputy commissioner to sit in the control room established in the city and monitor all the roads in case of snowfall. It also asked that vehicles exceeding the requisite number would be discouraged from entering Murree.

The administration had been directed to increase the number of fork lifters and traffic police in Murree. It appealed to the tourists to follow the advisory issued by the government and added that complete information would be provided to the tourists at places where diversions have been arranged.

The highways department was assigned to keep the roads clear and the tourism squad will also be deployed to support the administration.

Published in Dawn, january 8th, 2023