AQI improves

Scattered rain improved the Air Quality Index (AQI) of the provincial capital while Met office predicted similar weather conditions for the next 24 hours.

The scattered rain was recorded in several city localities after which the smoggy conditions subsided and citizens were able to see the sun and the blue sky hiding behind the scattered clouds. Data collected from IQAir revealed that the average AQI of the city came down to 212, which still came in the category of very unhealthy. It said the most polluted city localities included DHA phase V (308), Burki Road (290), Polo Ground Cantt (285), Askari 10 (265), Mini Market Gulberg (252), Model Town Link Road (239), Syed Maratib Ali Road (231), Ghazi Road Interchange (229) and Tufail Road (222).

Met officials said that continental air was prevailing over most parts of the country while a shallow westerly wave was present over upper and eastern parts of the country. They predicted that mainly cold and dry weather was expected in most parts of the country while very cold in hilly areas during morning/night. However, partly cloudy weather with light rain/light snowfall may occur at isolated places in Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir during morning hours. Smog/ fog (in patches) was likely in plain areas of Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and upper Sindh during morning/night hours. Monday’s minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped to -09°C, while in Lahore, it was 6.8°C and maximum was 17°C.