LAHORE: Light but widespread rain in Punjab and upper regions will bear a God-sent salutary effect on wheat and other Rabi crops when water in the rivers and canals was scarcer than ever.
Punjab Agriculture Department's senior officials said, "It was the right time for rain to occur for Rabi crops" adding that, "Providence filled the gap as irrigation water availability was very poor." They said that the staple food crop, wheat, has been benefited in particular.
Meanwhile, the Regional Met Office has forecast that another system of clouds is on its way after a gap of nearly 24 hours. During the gap it will remain dry and cold in the three provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. But NWFP and northern areas are likely to get rain and snowfall. According to report collected by various Met stations, light rain was reported from Faisalabad, Islamabad, Jhelum, Kamra, Mandi Bahauddin, Mianwali, Multan, Sahiwal, Sialkot, D G Khan, Kohat and Mangla.
Other cities, towns and stations received comparatively more rain. They include Lahore (13 mm), Muzaffarabad (9 mm), Balakot (16 mm), Chitral (13 mm), Dir (27 mm), Darosh (17 mm), Mirkhani (15 mm), Pattan (10 mm). Sindh and Balochistan however remained dry, the Met office said.
As the pall of clouds drifted during the night, minimum temperatures fell further down. In the Punjab capital the minimum temperature fell to 12 degrees. "After many years the month of February has been that cold", remarked a person sun bathing in the bright sunlight. Temperatures in northern areas remain in the range of minus one to plus two degrees Celsius.
