LAHORE: Dust-thundershower/rain with gusty winds occurred on Sunday at isolated places over the upper parts of the country and some cities in Punjab because of a westerly wave that was expected to cover more areas in the next 24 hours.

Premature incursion of moist monsoon currents from the Bay of Bengal reaching upper parts of the country up to 3000ft were also contributing to the weather conditions.

The Met office reported rain and dust storms in Malakand, Hazara, Banu, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Lahore, Faisalabad, D G Khan and Zhob divisions, Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir.

Faisalabad received 24mm of rain, Kasur 17, Noorpurthal 11, Murree 7, Toba Tek Singh, Sargodha 6, Mangla 3, Joharabad 1, Balakot 18, Dir 11, Malamjabba, Kakul 4, Bannu 2, Kotli 17, Garidupatta 16, Muzaffarabad 16, Rawalakot 5, Zhob 11 and Astore 3.

A midday dust storm and a cloud cover with scattered light rain in Lahore rid people of the very hot weather they were experiencing for the past two days. A cloud cover and strong winds kept weather pleasant afterwards, prompting people to visit city’s parks and other recreation places to enjoy the weekly holiday.

The Flood Forecasting Division said the rivers Jhelum at Mangla and Rasul, and Kabul at Nowshera were in low flood. All the other major rivers were flowing below low flood level. It expected low to medium level flooding in the hill torrents of the D G Khan division during the next two days.

The FFD forecast scattered thunderstorm/ rain with isolated heavy falls over the upper catchments of the rivers Indus and Jhelum along with Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, DI Khan, Rawalpindi, Multan, DG khan and Sargodha divisions in the next 24 hours. Isolated thunderstorm/ rain is also expected over Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur and Sahiwal divisions along with the upper catchments of the Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej and northeast Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2019