LAHORE, Jan 12 Anyone wishing to visit Murree for enjoying mid-winter chill could have had the feel and nip outdoors in Lahore which recorded temperatures lower than the most-frequented hill station's on Tuesday.

Thick fog that persisted for nearly 24 hours in almost all parts of Punjab on Tuesday further dipped temperatures, with Lahore touching as low as 1.6 degrees Celsius. The maximum temperature in Lahore was nine degrees Celsius while Murree recorded 13.7 degrees Celsius; its minimum being two degrees Celsius.

The phenomenon of Lahore's temperature dipping below that of Murree is unheard of in the past many years.

The Meteorological Office forecast chances of light rain in Lahore and other cities in Punjab and snowfall over the mountains in the next 24 hours. It expected improvement in temperatures in case of light rain.

The fog disrupted air, road and rail traffic in the plains of Punjab. The foremost desire among people was to find cozy places to stay warm, but this proved a dream for most because of gas and power outages.

The temperature in Lahore was just eight degrees Celsius at 5pm and six degrees Celsius at 8pm, and it was falling. Conditions were worse in Mandi Bahauddin, Jhang and Sialkot where the maximum temperatures were 7.5, 8.7 and 8.6 degrees Celsius, respectively. The minimum temperatures in these cities were 3.5, 3.8 and 4.54 degrees Celsius.

Fog developed in Lahore after midnight and continued to keep visibility zero till in the morning, disallowing flight operations. Unlike the past week, the fog blanket persisted till 2pm. Sun could not appear afterwards too because of the canopy of relatively thin fog that covered the skyline.

Similar weather conditions were reported from other cities, including Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Jhelum, Sialkot, Gujrat, Shorkot, Toba Tek Singh, Jhang, Multan and Bahawalnagar.