LAHORE, Feb 15: Fog generated by low temperatures and humidity blanketed many cities in the central and northern Punjab on Thursday, adding to the inconvenience of motorists.

In Lahore, the people faced a great deal of trouble because of dense fog in the morning and scattered rain in the evening. The temperatures remained low and breeze continued to blow throughout the day.

All express trains were behind schedule by three to eight hours. Traffic on inter-city and intra-city routes moved at a slow pace because of reduced visibility. Many motorcyclists were injured when their two-wheelers slipped during and after the rain. The flight operations, however, did not face any major disruption.

According to Chief Meteorologist Shaukat Awan, the fog in the province and the light rain in Lahore and some other cities were generated by the moisture left in the air by the deeply-embedded westerly system that gave widespread rainfall in the country. The system had passed over to India, but its remnants would continue to hang over the mountainous region for another three to four days.

Another westerly system was likely to enter Pakistan via the NWFP from May 18. The system was not strong, but it was likely to give rain and snowfall in the northern areas and Kashmir. It would generate scattered cloudiness over the northern Punjab with chances of rainfall during this period, he said.

He attributed fog in Lahore and other cities to increased humidity in the air. In Lahore, the visibility was reduced to just 50 metres at 2:30am last night and the fog was cleared by 10am.

The city’s maximum temperature was 18 degrees Celsius and the minimum 7 degrees C with 93 per cent humidity in the morning and 72 per cent in the evening.

The local Met office reported that Jhelum, Okara, Mandi Bahauddin, Faisalabad, Sargodha and Sahiwal too remained fog bound.

The Met office reported that Mianwali and Rawalakot received 7mm of rain, Bannu (4mm), Shorkot (3mm) and Lahore 2mm of rain. It forecast partly cloudy weather for Lahore with chances of rain during the next 24 hours.