The Pakistan Meteorological Department has announced that widespread rain and thunderstorms, accompanied by isolated hailstorms and significant snowfall over the mountains, are expected in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and several other regions of Pakistan from Thursday night to Saturday.
This weather pattern is due to a strong westerly system dominating the western parts of Pakistan, which is anticipated to affect the majority of the country through Sunday, March 3.
Under this weather influence, Thursday evening and night will bring rain and thunderstorms with snow over the hills in areas including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, south and central Punjab, upper Sindh, Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Heavy rain and hailstorms are particularly expected in Balochistan, with considerable snowfall in the northern parts of the province.
From Friday to Saturday, similar conditions will extend to more regions, with heavy rainfall and hailstorms forecasted for Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, upper Punjab, and Kashmir.
The PMD warns of potential flash floods in the local streams of Gwadar, Ketch, Turbat, Panjgur, Awaran, Barkhan, Kohlu, Sibbi, Naseerabad, Dalbandin, Khuzdar, and Dera Ghazi Khan between Thursday and Friday. Flash floods are also a risk in the hill torrents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir, Murree, Galyat, as well as local streams of Islamabad and Rawalpindi on Friday and Saturday.
Road closures may occur due to heavy rain and snowfall in popular mountainous regions such as Murree, Galyat, Naran, Kaghan, and several districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Kashmir on Friday and Saturday.
Temperature forecasts indicate that Islamabad will have minimum temperatures between 6-8 degrees Celsius, while Rawalpindi will experience temperatures ranging from 8-10 degrees Celsius on Friday and Saturday.
In the last 24 hours, the country experienced cold and dry weather, although there were occurrences of rain and thunderstorms with mountain snowfalls in some parts.
Recent rainfall measurements in millimeters and snowfalls in inches were reported for several locations across Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab, with Leh experiencing the coldest temperatures at 8 degrees Celsius below freezing.
Evening humidity levels were recorded at 55% in Islamabad and 57% in Rawalpindi, where the minimum temperatures were 7 degrees Celsius and 9 degrees Celsius, respectively.
