LAHORE, Jan 6: The cold weather conditions further intensified on Thursday as thick fog once again blanketed almost all parts of Punjab, lowering temperatures to below zero degree Celsius in many cities.

Fog also covered adjoining areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and upper Sindh, keeping temperature considerably low there.

Thick fog continued to hover over Lahore where the maximum temperature dropped from Wednesday’s 12 degrees Celsius to 10 degrees Celsius and minimum from Wednesday night’s four degrees Celsius to two degrees Celsius. Pale sun emerged out of the thick layer of fog in the afternoon for a while but appeared unable to provide any relief to the shivering souls.

People in most part of the country are braving the persistent foggy and cold weather conditions without regular power and gas supplies. Cooking meals and preparing for the workplaces and educational institutions have become a challenge in view of repeated and prolonged power loadshedding, and extremely low or no supply of gas.

According to the Met office, National Highway remained blanketed with thick fog form midnight to Thursday morning from Pattoki to Sukkur, badly affecting movement of traffic there. There was shallow fog over the Motorway from Islamabad to Lahore but it remained operative.

The Met office said Punjab remained fog bound from Mangla to Rahim Yar Khan. Visibility ranged from 200 metres to just 30 metres. Fog never cleared in many cities intensifying the cold weather conditions there.

The Met office reported dense fog in Jhelum, Mandi Bahauddin, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Sahiwal, Bhakkar, Okara, Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Khanpur, Sukkur, Nawabshah and Peshawar.

Kalam was the coldest place in the country with a minimum temperature of -11.4 degrees C. It was followed by Hunza -11 degrees C, Skardu, Parachinar and Gupis -9 degrees C each and Quetta and Kalat – 8 degrees C.

In Punjab, Shorkot was the coldest place with a minimum temperature of -2 degrees Celsius, the lowest in the province in the current winter. Its maximum temperature was just 8.5 degrees Celsius.

The maximum and minimum temperature of some other cities was: Jauharabad 7.5 and -1 degrees Celsius, Okara 8.5 and -1.5 degrees Celsius, Rahim Yar Khan 14.5 and -0.5 degrees Celsius, Sahiwal 9 and 0.0 degrees Celsius, Toba Tek Singh 10.7 and -1 degrees Celsius, Bahawalpur 8.2 and 1.5 degrees Celsius, Sialkot 9 and 3.8 degrees Celsius and Murree 11 and -2.2 degrees Celsius.

The Met office said a shallow westerly wave might give some rain and snowfall over Gilgit-Baltistan on Friday. However, foggy and extremely cold weather conditions would continue to prevail over Punjab, and adjoining Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. The National Highway will also remain covered with dense fog from Jhelum to Rahim Yar Khan.