QUETTA: The provincial capital, Mastung, Kalat and several other towns of Balochistan received the first rainfall of the season on Monday while snow covered Ziarat Valley.

For eight months, Quetta and some other cities in the province had been facing dry weather due to a lack of rainfall. However, temperatures dropped by several degrees after the rain and snowfall.

Chilly winds were blowing in northern and central Balochistan forcing people to turn on their heaters.

In Quetta, the gas pressure decreased after the rainfall and a drop in temperature.

Cities that received the showers included Quetta, Mastung, Kalat, Chagai, Nus­hki, Dalbandin, Nok­undi, Taftan, Sibi, Chaman, Zhob, Qila Abdullah and Qila Saifullah.

Ziarat Valley received the snowfall.

“The mountains around Ziarat and the valley have been covered by a white blanket,” said Nasibullah Kakar, a local resident, while talking to Dawn over the telephone.

Gas cylinders disappea­red from shops in Quetta after the temperature dro­pped while pressure of natural gas supply decreased.

“For the last couple of years we have been facing low gas pressure and using firewood to warm our homes. I don’t know what will happen in peak winter season,” said Qazi Muhammad Younis, a resident of Jinnah Town.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2017