LAHORE –Meteorological Department has predicted that present cold wave can be continued till March unlike previous seasons when it used to end in February.
In this regard an official of metrological department said that rains started in the month of January instead of December while unusual low temperatures were also recorded in December and January in many areas across the country. He further said that rain and snowfall would stretch through March instead of ending in February. Temperatures would remain relatively low in plain areas while extended summer is also expected this year, he added.
Moreover, metrological department forecast a fresh western disturbance extending towards upper parts of the country on Sunday is likely to cause scattered rain and snowfall over hills in upper Punjab, upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Northeast Balochistan, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. The westerly wave would affect Balochistan on Saturday and start moving towards upper parts of the country, causing scattered rain in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha and Faisalabad divisions of Punjab on Sunday and Monday.  Scattered rain with snowfall over the hills is expected in Upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat divisions, northeast Balochistan; Quetta, Zhob, Kalat and Sibbi divisions on the weekend. In Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, isolated scattered rain, snowfall over the hills is expected in most parts of the areas on Sunday.