LAHORE: The monsoon season is starting in Pakistan from Monday (today) as per the Pakistan Meteorological Department calendar with some rain over upper parts of the country and scattered showers in some Punjab cities.

It remained very hot in the plain areas on Sunday. The maximum temperature in Lahore was 44 degrees C. The scorching heat forced people to remain indoors during the day.

According to the Flood Forecasting Division a fresh westerly wave lay over northern parts of the country and moist monsoon current from the Arabian Sea was penetrating central parts of the country up to 5,000.

The combination of these systems is likely to generate scattered thunderstorm/rain with isolated moderate falls over Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat, D I Khan and Rawalpindi divisions along with upper catchments of the rivers Indus and Jhelum in the next 24 hours.

Isolated thunderstorm/rain is expected over Sargodha, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Lahore, Bahawalpur and D G Khan divisions along with upper catchments of the rivers Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej and northeastern Balochistan.

It said the river Kabul at Nowshera was in low flood and all the other major rivers were flowing below low flood level.

Meanwhile, the Met department reported dust-thundershower/rain with gusty winds at scattered places in Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Faisalabad divisions, Islamabad, Kashmir, while at isolated places in Lahore and D G Khan divisions. Weather remained very hot and dry in other parts of the country.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2019