Isloo wears white: As close as it gets to Murree

Hailstorm, rain lash twin cities, 21 mm rain recorded in capital.

ISLAMABAD:

Around 2pm on Thursday, Muhammad Ajmal was riding his bike through the slight rain on a slippery Khayaban-e Suharwardy near Aabpara Chowk. Then suddenly, he was surrounded by dull, clunking sounds and all he could see was a volley of white irregular-shaped, pebble-sized objects.

He was stuck in a hailstorm.

“I’m glad I was wearing the helmet,” Ajmal, who is a computer science student at a private college, said with a chuckle. “The hailstorm was so intense I had to park my motorbike and take cover.”

The Aabpara hailstorm lasted for about 15 minutes, and when it ended, the green belt, parking lots and roads around the area were covered with a thin white layer.

Similar scenes were witnessed in several areas including sector F-6, F-7, sector H-9 and Blue Area as multiple hailstorms struck the federal capital on Thursday. The hailstorms were part of a continued spell of rains that began on March 13.

By 5pm on Thursday, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had recorded 21 millimetres (mm) rain in Islamabad and 17 mm in Rawalpindi over th last 24 hours.



The Spring rains are not uncommon to Potohar region, deputy director of PMD’s forecasting division Muhammad Aleemul Hassan told The Express Tribune. But Hassan admitted that the seasonal weather trends are changing and the variability in the rains has increased.

The mid-week rains in the twin cities were due to the interaction of warm air from the East with the cold northwestern air. The heat wave during the days before the downpour added to the instability of the atmosphere.

In the F-6 Super Market, people seemed to be enjoying the cool weather.

“We had put away our sweaters and warm clothes,” Shahid Khan, who works at a shoe store in the market, said. “But it looks like winter is not over.”

Winter might be over in technical terms, but the maximum temperature in Islamabad did drop by almost 10 degree Celsius. On March 6 and 7, the mercury registered highest levels of 29.5 Celsius but on Thursday, the average maximum was just 20 degrees, according to PMD data.



The federal capital’s poorly maintained roads also suffered during the rains. Roads, especially those in the I-10 and I-11 vegetable market area, were a series of puddles causing problems for motorists and pedestrians alike.

The hailstorms also affected some areas of Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum and Gujranwala districts. Hassan said the hailstones are harmful for the wheat crop which is moving to maturity from the flowering stage.

“The hailstorm affects the pollination of the wheat crop,” Hassan said. “If the weather conditions (such as temperature, rains) change drastically, it could affect the wheat grain and reduce the yield of the crop.”

According to the PMD, “a westerly wave is affecting Upper parts of the country and (is) likely to move eastwards during next 12-18 hours.” Hassan said the current spell of rain is expected to continue in the twin cities till Friday morning. Another spell of rain expected to strike on March 17, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2013.