Amidst the haze: Thick fog affects mobility on land and air

26 international and local flights delayed, cancelled or diverted.

PESHAWAR: A thick fog descended upon the Peshawar Valley and other parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Monday resulting in limited visibility, disrupted traffic flow and flight delays.

“Peshawar witnessed zero visibility during which it is difficult to see beyond five meters. The visibility level increased to 100 meters around noon and two miles around 3pm, but fog still covered the entire valley,” said Meteorological (Met) Office Peshawar’s Director Mushtaq Ali Shah.

“Fog naturally occurs when evaporation from land to the atmosphere is blocked due to high pressure systems, and lower temperatures cause moisture to condense. But pollution is also one of the biggest reasons,” added Shah.

The fog resulted in delays at the Bacha Khan International Airport (BKIA) with 26 flights grounded or re-routed to avoid risky take-offs and landings.

The 18 international flights scheduled to arrive or depart from BKIA were either diverted to Karachi and Lahore or cancelled. “We never take such risks and I think it is better to reach late than never,” Civil Aviation Spokesperson Pervez George told The Express Tribune.

He added operations at BKIA would resume as soon as conditions for landing and takeoff were considered viable.

The Meteorological Office forecasted temperatures could further drop to minus three degrees between midnight and dawn on Tuesday.

Thick fog and similar conditions are predicted for four more days in Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu, DI Khan and Hazara.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan cancelled his visit to Peshawar. Khan was to fly to the provincial capital to offer condolences over the demise of senior minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour and former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2013.