Fog returns: Motorway closed for 90 minutes due to low visibility

Met Office says fog thicker this year.

LAHORE:

The Motorway was closed due to low visibility from Lahore to Pindi Bhatian for 90 minutes on Wednesday morning, as seasonal fog made its first appearance in the city this winter.

Motorway police convoyed traffic coming from Islamabad to Lahore up to the Kala Shah Kaku Interchange during this time, while vehicles wanting to enter Islamabad from the interchange were not allowed in.

Motorway Police spokesman Riaz Khan asked commuters to try and travel between the hours of 10am and 6pm on GT Road and the Motorway. “Drivers are advised to keep the fog lights and defoggers in their vehicles in good condition,” he said. Met Office official Ikramuddin said that the fog had started at around the same time as last year, but this time it was thicker. “It is becoming denser more sharply, which is unusual,” he said. “Dust particles are contributing to the high density.”

The maximum temperature is also dropping, he said, going from 30 degrees Celsius on Tuesday to 27.2 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. At Lahore Airport, visibility dropped to 400 metres. The Met Office has forecast foggy conditions for the plains of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for the next few weeks. The weather is likely to remain dry.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2011.