LAHORE – A majority of areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained under thick fog on Saturday, severely disrupting air, road and rail traffic in the two provinces.
The fog also forced authorities to announce the suspension of operation at Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore, until 10am today (Sunday). The Motorway (M2) was closed for traffic between Lahore and Pindi Bhattian, while rail traffic also suffered due to foggy conditions, while the Pindi Bhattian-Islamabad section would be open for traffic as it had enough visibility.
A spokesman of the Motorway Police advised drivers to take precautionary measures while driving. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) sources said six of the 13 affected flights were international, which had been diverted or cancelled on Saturday.
Sources told Pakistan Today that international flights coming in from Delhi, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States had been cancelled, while domestic flights from Karachi, Islamabad and Peshawar could not depart due to the thick fog.
The CAA source, however, said that operations would resume as soon as visibility improved. Lahore Meteorological Department said high concentration of moisture in the atmosphere coupled with low temperature had caused the weather to turn foggy, adding that fog would persist across the plain areas of the country for another 10 days.
The intensity and duration of fog is likely to increase in the coming days in the plain areas of Punjab, Upper Sindh and central and lower parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The dense fog in Punjab (Gujranwala, Lahore, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur) will persist daily for more than 12 hours (from mid-night to mid day), giving a short sunny window only in the afternoon.
The Met Office forecast foggy conditions of moderate to dense intensity for Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur divisions of Punjab, Peshawar division (Noshera, Swabi, Charsada and adjoining areas) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sukkar division of Sindh during the next few days.
Most parts of the country are likely to remain under a cold spell during the next two to three days.
Pakistan Meteorological Department Lahore said New Year’s Eve was the coldest evening of the ongoing winter, as the mercury had dropped to one degree Celsius. The maximum temperature recorded on Saturday was 13 degrees Celsius.
