ISLAMABAD, Dec 30: While the city dwellers awaited rains to wash away their health concerns, farmers particularly in Barani areas were looking up expectantly for winter showers to breathe life into wheat crop.

“The timing could not have been better,” said Qadir Bakhsh Baloch, former agriculture development commissioner with the Ministry of Agriculture.

Barani (rain fed) areas contribute to the country's nine million hectares of wheat production. Last year wheat crop from Barani areas was more than 20 per cent of the nearly 24 million tons of production. Irrigated land made up 80 per cent of Pakistan's agricultural land.

“Wheat in Barani areas is sown in September and October. The soil was moist from the massive monsoon rains. Earlier showers would have been ideal but these consecutive days of rains made a lot of difference, especially for Khyber Pukhtunkhwa where 60 per cent of Barani land depends on rains,” said Mr Baloch.

Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Thursday forecast more rain and snowfall for Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and adjoining hilly areas on Friday. Earlier, it said La Nina factor had suppressed rains, as the country witnessed a four-month dry spell.

The current rain and snowfall spell is likely to weaken over the next 24 hours as upper parts of the country would experience cold weather in the coming three days, said the spokesman of PMD. The spokesman said foggy conditions were likely to develop again over the next two to three days as dense fog was expected over parts of the motorways. Scattered rain and snowfall over hills was recorded in different parts of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and GB in the last 24 hours. Our Correspondent adds from Murree:

Tourists rushed to Murree as it received light snowfall on Thursday. Mountains in Galyaat and Azad Kashmir received heavy snowfall. With large number of visitors pouring in and slippery roads because of snowfall led to long traffic jams and accidents in Murree. As temperatures fell below the freezing point, the Murree Town was without gas supply.