LAHORE - Engulfed by thick fog, the plains of Punjab including the City remained in the grip of severe cold on Monday with experts predicting the cold wave to persist during the next 2-3 days. Thick fog blanketed the plains of Punjab on Monday that brought the life almost to a standstill, hampering vehicular movement throughout the province, delaying arrival and departure of domestic and international flights besides disturbing normal schedule of trains. Less visibility caused closure of Motorway and a number of important inter-city arteries, creating problems for the commuters. In City, dense fog disturbed normal routine life by considerably reducing the visibility. Besides hampering vehicular movement, the less visibility also caused a number of road mishaps in different parts of the City. In Lahore, maximum temperature dropped by 04 degree Celsius, increasing chill in weather during the daytime. On Monday, maximum and minimum temperature in the City was recorded 12 C and 3.8 C respectively. Relative humidity in the morning was recorded 92 per cent, which decreased to 75 per cent in the evening. According to the experts, continental air is likely to prevail over most parts of the country. A weak westerly wave is moving across Northern Areas. Local meteorological department has forecast cold and dry weather with mist in the morning for the City. Met office has forecast mainly cold and dry weather for most parts of the country. However, light rain and snowfall over the hills is expected for upper NWFP and Gilgit-Baltistan. Met office has forecast fog for the plains of Punjab as well.