LAHORE: People breathed a sigh of relief after a light drizzle cleared the heavy cloud of fog that enveloped the city over the past week.

Aslam Chaudhry, the Met department director, said that north-westerly winds had brought in the clouds that will produce more rain in the next couple of days. These were fog clouds that occurred naturally in winters. He further said that it was the environment protection department that should give an analysis of the content of the fog to ascertain how much of it contained noxious gases.

Meanwhile, satellite images captured by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) confirmed wind and particulate matter travelling mostly from the north with medium to high PM2.5 readings.

Furthermore, Lahore experienced ‘hazardous’ air quality levels this week. On Saturday, the levels went up to ‘very unhealthy’ with 248, which on Thursday was as high as 331. A cloud of thick smoke stayed at lower levels, worsening as the day ended.

Readings by the air quality technology company, IQAir, showed Bahawalpur having the worst air quality with 263 followed by Lahore with 248.

Published in Dawn, Jannuary 3rd, 2021