ISLAMABAD: While most of Sindh, Balochistan and central and south Punjab brace for a heat wave, the weather in northern Punjab, including Rawalpindi and Islamabad, is expected to remain mild mostly due to soft winds from the north.

The met office has said dry continental air is prevailing over most of the country which will drive the temperature up but light rains and thunderstorms accompanied by gusty winds are expected in a few places including Malakand, the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Kashmir.

As the season changes from winter to summer, the direction of the wind has also been gradually changing from the west to the north and north-east. However, clouds could be arriving from the west and south-west over the twin cities on Wednesday and winds from the north and north-east will help maintain the mild weather.

Due to the soft northern winds, the night time temperature in Islamabad was 15 °C, in Murree it was 10 °C, in Lahore it was 21 °C and it was 26°C in Karachi and Multan.

The met office has said that the rainfall in January, February and March this year in Pakistan was recorded close to its normal level. However, it rained more than normal in AJK, KP and Punjab and less than normal in Balochistan, Sindh and GB.

The rainfall in January this year in Pakistan was a lot more than normal and it was below normal in February and March.

A met office official said these were not good signs as a massive rain spell over a short period of time could trigger floods and a prolonged dry spell can impact agricultural output.