LAHORE: Though it will be weaker than earlier ones, a fresh westerly wave will likely enter Pakistan on Friday evening and trigger more rains over different parts of the country.

According to a weather advisory issued by the Pakistan Meteorology Department (PMD) on Wednesday, the new system will likely trigger rains-thunderstorms over scattered places in northeast Balochistan (Quetta, Zhob, Kalat, Sibi and Naseerabad divisions) from Friday evening to Sunday.

In upper parts of the country, the system was likely to trigger more rains over Malakand and Hazara divisions, and Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir from Sunday to Monday, the advisory said.

These areas are already reeling from earlier bouts of heavy rains and the resultant landslides and floods which brought destruction and misery in their wake.

“(The) soil in Malakand and Hazara divisions, and in Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir is already saturated because of intermittent and heavy rains over the last couple of weeks... therefore, there are chances of more landslides in case of even low rains because of this new weather system,” the PMD said.

Rains-thunderstorms are also likely over scattered places in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat and Bannu divisions), Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir from Friday night to Monday.

Islamabad and upper parts of Punjab (Sargodha, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala divisions) are likely to experience rains from Saturday to Monday.

Rains and thunderstorms are also likely at isolated place in Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Faisalabad, Lahore and Sahiwal divisions on Saturday and Sunday.

It rained in Lahore and several other cities on Wednesday because of the presence of a shallow westerly wave. The rain in Lahore made the weather very pleasant which was otherwise turning hot over the past few days.

The PMD said that Parachinar received 35mm of rain, Multan, Mirkhani 8mm, Barkhan, Drosh 6mm, Dir 5mm, Gujranwala 4mm, Jhang, Lahore Airport, Hunza, Toba Tek Singh, Gilgit, Sialkot 2mm, and Chitral, Lahore (City), Murree, Rawalakot, Sialkot Airport, D.G. Khan and Astore 1mm of rainfall.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2016