LAHORE Dust raising winds over the plains of the province including the City on Sunday night provided some respite to the heat stricken people by causing decrease in the mercury level. After a hot day on Sunday, winds started blowing at around 9 pm that caused gradual decrease in the temperature during the night time. Prior to the winds, plains of the province including the City remained in the grip of heat wave with frequent outages adding to the woes and miseries of heat stricken people. Lack of rains and winds caused increase in the mercury level over the plains including the City, causing the people to sweat at noon and in the afternoon. On Sunday, Rahim Yar Khan remained the hottest place in the province where mercury rose as high as 47.1 degree Celsius. In Lahore, people avoided unnecessarily coming out on roads at noon, causing considerable decrease in traffic on otherwise busy arteries. Lahore canal attracted a large number of people including women and children at noon and in the afternoon. Not only youth but also elderly people were seen beating the heat by taking a dip in the mud colour canal water. At certain places, even women were seen taking a bath in the canal. On Sunday, maximum and minimum temperature in the City was recorded 42.3 C and 29.5 C respectively. Relative humidity in the morning was recorded 45 percent which decreased to 31 percent in the evening. According to the experts, seasonal low lies over Balochistan and adjoining areas. Local meteorological department has forecast mainly hot and dry weather for most parts of the country including the City during the next 24 hours. However, rains are expected at isolated places of Malakand and Bannu divisions, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir.