LAHORE: Thick fog continued to blanket Punjab, plains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and upper Sindh on Wednesday, further intensifying winter across the country.

The Met Office, nevertheless, forecast lessening of fog from Friday to Sunday.

Fog developed in most of Punjab cities from Rawalpindi to Rahim Yar Khan. It continued to blanket Lahore from 6am to 10am.

The worst-hit cities were Okara, Sahiwal and Faisalabad where fog develop during the early hours and persisted throughout the day.

Motorway remained fog-bound from Bhera to Kot Momin, Kot Momin to Lahore and Faisalabad. The National Highway too was covered by dense-to-moderate fog from Rawalpindi to Rahim Yar Khan.

Skardu was the coldest place in the country with -9.4 degrees C minimum temperature. It was followed by Astore -7.5 degrees C, Kalat -6, Gilgit -5.5, and Quetta -4.6.

The maximum temperature in Lahore was 17 degrees C and the minimum last night 4.5 degrees C. The Met Office forecast mainly very cold and dry weather with frost (after midnight) and fog (in the morning) in Lahore.

It expected mainly very cold and dry weather over most parts of the country with fog in plain areas of Punjab (including Islamabad), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and Upper Sindh in the next 24 hours.

Isolated to scattered frost would ensue over most divisions of the country. Thunderstorm/ light rain with light snowfall over the hills might occur at one or two places of Malakand, Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpur Khas divisions and Gilgit-Baltistan.