ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: Lahore experienced the coldest day in 39 years while mercury dropped to minus 16 degrees Centigrade in Kalat and Skardu, APP quoted meteorologists as saying on Saturday.

Two people died of cold in the Sialkot district as night temperature fell to below freezing point in most plains of Punjab and Sindh.

The cold wave is likely to subside in southern parts of the country but it is likely to persist in the quake-hit areas for two more days, weather experts said.

The Met Office forecast said the weather would remain cold and dry in most parts of the country, including the federal capital territory, on Sunday.

Lahore experienced the coldest day as mercury dropped to minus two degrees Centigrade. A similar drop in temperature previously occurred on Jan 4, 1967.

The Met office report said that dry continental air continued to prevail over the region, while cold and dry weather would persist in Lahore during next 24 hours.

A maximum temperature of 17.2 degrees Centigrade was recorded in Lahore, the report said.

Cold weather persisted in Quetta and its suburbs despite a rise in temperature during the day, recorded at 8.5 degree Centigrade on Saturday against 5.8 degrees Centigrade recorded on Friday.

Met office forecast a further increase in the day temperature during the next 24 hours. The maximum temperature is likely to remain between 10 to 12 degrees Centigrade and the minimum is likely to remain between minus 11 and minus 9 degrees Centigrade.

The highest maximum temperature in Balochistan was recorded at 24 degrees Centigrade at Lasbella.

The weather is likely to remain dry in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan and Bahawalpur divisions during the next 24 hours, it added.

Other areas where temperatures remained below freezing point were Kalam with minus 13 degrees Centigrade, Astore and Dalbandin with minus 11, Chitral minus 9, Parachinar, Zhob and Gilgit with minus 8, Murree minus 7, Abbottabad, Rawlakot and Balakot at minus 3, Muzaffarabad minus 2 degrees Centigrade. Temperature in Islamabad, Dera Ismail Khan, Multan, Nawabshah and Peshawar remained minus one degree Centigrade, APP quoted the Met Office as saying.

Our Sialkot correspondent adds: Cold claimed the lives of at least two persons, including an old woman, as the entire district experienced the coldest day of the season with the mercury dropping to minus 2 degrees Centigrade.

Muhammad Bashir,47, diad in the Uggoki area while 54-year-old Sakeena Bibi died in Pasrur.