Scattered rain, heavy snowfall over hills likely from Friday

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Meteorological Department on Wednesday forecast scattered rain for most parts of the country with chances of heavy snowfall over the hills in Murree, Galliyat and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Friday to Sunday.

According to an advisory issued by the Met Office, cold wave conditions are likely to grip most parts of the country from February 4-10.

A fresh westerly wave is likely to affect upper parts of the country and cause scattered rain with snowfall over the hills in Punjab, KPK and Balochistan from February 3 to 6, while heavy snowfall is expected over the hills of Murree on February 4 or 5.

Widespread rain or snowfall is also expected in Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir during the period, however, mainly dry weather is expected during next 10 days.

About wind forecast, the advisory said that normal wind pattern is likely in most parts of the country. However, gusty winds are expected during the rainy spell.

Wheat crop is in flowering development stages in the agriculture plains of the country and farmers should irrigate the crops as per requirement keeping the coming rains in mind. Generally, next irrigation is given 20-22 days after the first, the advisory said.

Farmers should now accelerate weeds removing operations to save soil moisture and other nutrients from weeds.

The lowest minimum temperature recorded at Kalam was -13xC and today's minimum temperatures were Islamabad 2 C, Lahore 6 C, Quetta -4 C, Karachi 12 C, Peshawar 5 C, Muzaffarabad 4 C, Gilgit -3 C, Murree 0 C, Multan 6 C, Faisalabad 6xC.