LAHORE – Fog continued to blanket the plains of Pakistan including Lahore on Sunday, bringing life to a standstill by disrupting road, rail and air traffic.
Experts have predicted the prevailing weather conditions to persist during the next couple of days.
Dense fog/smog forced the closure of portions of Motorways from late night to early morning, diverting traffic to alternative routes including the National Highway.
Low visibility also affected normal vehicular movement on the National Highway.
Fog also disrupted the schedule of international and domestic flights and that of passenger trains.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast mainly cold and dry weather for most parts of Pakistan on Sunday night and the next two days.
Extremely cold and partly cloudy weather is expected in the northern parts.
Fog/smog is likely to occur in plain areas of Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and upper Sindh.
Dense fog/smog is likely in Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Lahore, Gujranwala, Narowal, Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh, Jhang, Khanewal, Multan, Khanpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Sialkot, Hafizabad, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Jhelum, Bhakkar, Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan and surroundings during morning and night hours.
Fog update for Motorways, National Highway
Moderate to dense smog/fog may cause closure of portions of Motorways (Peshawar-Swabi, Swabi-Islamabad, Pindi Bhattian-Lahore, Kallar Kahar-Pindi Bhattian, Lahore-Abdul Hakim, Sialkot-Lahore, Pindi Bhattian-Faisalabad, Faisalabad-Multan and Multan-Sukkur) from late night to early morning.
Less visibility will also disrupt vehicular movement on the National Highway.
In Lahore, minimum temperature will likely remain between 08-10 C on Monday and 06-08 C on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, cold and dry weather prevailed over most parts of the country during the last 24 hours.
Skardu and Leh remained the coldest places in the country where the mercury dropped 08 C below freezing.
In Lahore, minimum temperature was recorded at 09 C.
Relative humidity in the evening was recorded at 67 per cent.