ISLAMABAD, Jan 17: Cold winds carrying moistures from the Northwest, on Thursday, brought rain and snowfall to central and upper parts of the country.

The met office said: “The westerly wave affecting the upper parts of the country is likely to persist till Saturday morning.”

As a result, scattered rain and snowfall occurred in upper Punjab, including Islamabad, Malakand, Hazara divisions and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan.

The maximum temperature in Murree dropped to 4 degrees centigrade, on Thursday, witnessing 6 inches of snowfall, while the minimum was minus two degrees.

Whereas, maximum temperature in the twin cites Rawalpindi and Islamabad was 15 degrees Celsius (C), dropping three degrees from the previous day.

Similarly the minimum temperature Thursday was 4 degrees C and it was expected to drop further due to the rains.

The met office has said that the weather would be cold and dry and isolated rain and snow is expected in Kashmir/ Gilgit-Baltistan.

The satellite imagery at the website of Pakistan Meteorological Department shows that thick cloud formation was present over Gilgit –Baltistan, Kashmir and northern parts of KPK.

The influence of the current westerly system is also seen over North Western parts of India, which shows that rains and cold weather will persist in those areas also, in the coming days.

The lowest temperature in the country was minus 9 degrees at Parachinar, Skardu -08°C, Quetta -07°C , Astore -06 °C, Gupis -05°C, Hunza -04°C, Drosh & Malamjabba -03 °C, Chitral, Gilgit & Bunji -02 °C.