ISLAMABAD: After less than normal precipitation during the past months, most of the northern parts of the country, including Rawalpindi and Islamabad, on Friday received active rainfall.

But the delayed rain would be harmful for the wheat crop that was ready for harvesting.

The Met Office said a westerly wave was affecting the northern parts of the country bringing plentiful rainfall in Fata, KP, Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, northern and central Punjab with Murree receiving 59mm, Rawalpindi 47mm and Islamabad 34mm rainfall.

Met Office says coming days are likely to be dry and sunny

However, the system that brought the heavy rainfall was fast moving towards India and the coming days are likely to remain dry and sunny across the country.

The rain system coming from the west and north accompanied with cold winds also dropped the mercury level and the daytime temperature by 10 degrees centigrade in the federal capital to 19 degrees.

But the wet spell was a respite for the whole region as less than normal rainfall was received in December and January whereas March witnessed record-making heat for the month.

Many parts of south and west Asia and the Middle East had a heat wave peaking in the last days of March while in Pakistan a heat wave was observed in Sindh where temperatures increased to 45 degrees centigrade.

The Met Office said around 34 stations of Pakistan Meteorological Department broke the temperature records for March this year as temperatures increased by over 10 degrees above the monthly average.

The National Agromet Centre of the Met Office advised farmers to monitor the sunshine in coming days and take advantage of the dry conditions which will be helpful for wheat harvesting.

But the Met Office also warned that another light spell was expected in the last days of April.

However, the rains have helped enhance the water level in key reservoir of the city by another foot.

The current water level at Rawal Lake was around 1,739.60 feet that is expected to reach 1,741 feet by Saturday (today) noon as water from various catchments in Murree would reach the lake.

Officials have expressed satisfaction over the current water level which is around 10 feet below the peak level.

“The highest level at the lake is 1,752 feet but the dead level is 1,708 feet. Therefore, the current situation is good to meet requirements for two months,” said an official of the Punjab Irrigation Department.

He said even if there were no rains during the months of May and June, monsoon rains would bring fresh inflows from July.

However, the water inflows at the Simly Dam has been more due to rainfall in Murree hills increasing its level by almost four feet on Friday.

“The water level at Simly Dam was 2,258.85 feet on Friday morning which rose to 2,261.81 feet level by late evening and more inflows are expected overnight,” said a CDA official posted to the dam.

He expressed the hope that the water level would remain satisfactory in coming months too as the current position was comfortably over the dead level of 2,233 feet.

Murree

The resort town of Murree received about six inch of snow which the local people said was rare in the month of April and even March.

A large number of tourists from Rawalpindi and Islamabad thronged the area to witness the snowfall.

An elderly resident of Murree said about 30 years ago Murree had received snowfall in April.

Gujar Khan

The rain worried farmers in Gujar Khan who had started harvesting the wheat crop. With the start of the intermittent rain, the farmers halted the harvesting.

They feared that the rainwater standing in the fields could spoil the grains.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2018