Mist slows life in City

LAHORE - Thick fog blanket covered the City on Sunday, disturbing normal routine life in the morning as less visibility hindered smooth vehicular movement on roads besides affecting schedule of flights and trains.
Thick fog, quite unusual at the present time, caused considerable delay in arrival and departure of all domestic and international flights at Allama Iqbal International Airport. London, Jeddah, Riyadh and Sharjah bound flights departed after a delay of six hours due to less visibility. The foggy weather also caused considerable delay in landing of planes at the Airport, creating difficulties for the relatives and friends waiting for the arrival of their near and dear ones from abroad and other cities.
Foggy conditions, caused by excessive pollution in the wake of lack of any significant rain, also disturbed normal schedule of trains, causing difficulties for passengers.
Vehicles moved at a snails pace in the City and on highways in the province as the less visibility made driving extremely difficult. Motorists had to switch on lights of their vehicles not only on highways but also on the streets of Lahore till noon.
Fog helped maintaining the temperature to a lower level, making weather cold. Kalam remained the coldest place in the country where mercury dropped to -5 degree Celsius.
On Sunday, maximum and minimum temperature in the City was recorded 24 C and 12 C respectively. Relative humidity in the morning was recorded 94 per cent, which decreased to 56 per cent in the evening.
According to the experts, a westerly wave is moving across northern parts of the country. Local meteorological department has forecast cloudy weather with some haze in the morning for the City during the next 24 hours. Rains are expected at isolated places of upper NWFP, Gujranwala, Lahore and Rawalpindi divisions. Met office has forecast snowfall over the hills of Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir during the next 24 hours.