LAHORE, Jan 15: Thick fog that persisted almost entire Wednesday lowered the day’s maximum temperature to 9.3 degrees C in Lahore.

Tuesday afternoon sunshine had increased the day’s maximum temperature to 15.1 degrees C.

The impact of the low temperature was felt throughout the day on Wednesday. It was hard to brave the chill, especially in the morning.

The maximum temperature between 5am and 8am was only 3.6 degrees C. It was only 5.4 degrees C at 11am and 9 degrees at 5pm. Sun appeared only for a while but one felt cold even after that.

Fog that started developing in Lahore at 7:15pm on Tuesday night never cleared on Wednesday. It enveloped the city again soon after the dusk, making people to remain indoors.

It reduced visibility to mere 20 metres at 10pm on Tuesday night. It was 30 metres between 11pm and 5am and 800 metres at 2pm on Wednesday.

It again started reducing the visibility after 3pm on Wednesday. At 6:30pm, the visibility was only 250 metres with a maximum temperature of 8 degrees C.

According to the Met office, it will remain partly cloudy but foggy and misty in Lahore during the next 24 hours.

It said many other cities in the Punjab continued to be affected by thick fog which kept their temperature low.

The minimum temperature in Islamabad, Kamra and Faisalabad was 1 degree C each, Jhelum, Sargodha and Khanpur 2 degrees C each, Mianwali and Bahawalnagar 3 each, Bahawalpur 4, Shorkot 5 and Dera Ghazi Khan 6 degrees C.

Skardu was the coldest place in the country with a minimum temperature of -11 degrees C. It was followed by Astore -9 degrees, Parachinar -8, Kalam -7, Chitral -2, and Gilgit -4 degrees C.

The Met office has predicted dry and foggy weather in the Punjab during the next 24 hours. It will remain cloudy in Rawalpindi with chances of light rain with snowfall over the hills in Malakand, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit and Skardu.