Partly cloudy, cold weather forecast

LAHORE:Partly cloudy and cold weather was observed in the City here on Sunday while Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) office predicted similar weather conditions for the next 24 hours.

Pakistan Meteorological Department officials said that continental air was prevailing over most parts of the country. The PMD officials predicted that mainly cold and dry weather was expected in most parts of the country while very cold in hilly areas.

Frost was likely at isolated places in Islamabad, Pothohar region and upper Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa during morning hours. Moderate to dense fog was likely to persist in most plain areas of Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and upper Sindh during morning/night hours.

Sunday’s minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped to -12°C, while in Lahore, it was 7°C and maximum was 17°C. The average Air Quality Index (AQI) of the City was 159, which came in the category of unhealthy while the PM2.5 concentration was 13.4 times the World Health Organisation annual PM2.5 guideline value.

The most polluted areas included Barki Road (295), Bedian Road (260), Askari 10 (254), US Consulate (206), Phase VIII- Defence Housing Authority (DHA) (193), University of Management and Technology (181) and Near Ada Plot, Raiwind Road (174).