LAHORE, July 10: Downtown Lahore received its first monsoon rain on Tuesday after experiencing an extremely muggy weather earlier in the day.

There have been scattered monsoon rains in Punjab and upper parts of the country since Friday last.

And according to the latest meteorological analysis made by the Flood Forecasting Division, there are ample chances of fairly widespread thunderstorm/rain with isolated heavy falls over north and central Punjab (Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Sargodha and Rawalpindi divisions) and Kashmir after 72 hours (from July 13 to 15).

Senior weather pundits said the rain in Lahore and some other cities was caused by monsoon moisture being pumped in by a low pressure over India which lay over north Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.

The moisture could have generated heavy rain provided a westerly wave over Kashmir stayed there. It moved away eastwards on Tuesday. But a fresh westerly moving across northern parts of Iran is likely to enter Pakistan around Friday, providing a cold front to the moisture from the low pressure from India and generating as a result the expected rain.

Meanwhile, majority localities in central or northern Lahore received their first monsoon rain which was 25mm. There were only traces of rain around the airport or in the localities like Model Town.

Traffic jumbled in busy streets during and after the rain, creating immense problems for people. Especially affected were the roads where the Punjab government is constructing a path for the metro bus service.

The Met office says it will remain partly cloudy with chances of thunderstorm/rain in the city in the next 24 hours.

Scattered thunderstorm/rain with heavy falls at isolated places is expected over eastern Sindh (Tharparkar, Umar Kot and Khairpur districts). Isolated thunderstorm/rain is also expected over Kashmir, North-Northeast Punjab, Lower Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit- Baltistan.