The provincial capital continued to experience hazardous air quality on Monday, with the average AQI rising to 364. According to IQAir data, PM2.5 levels were 33.7 times higher than the World Health Organization’s annual guideline value.
The most polluted areas of the city were Barki Road (658), Bedian Road (657), DHA Phase VI (571), B Block Phase V, DHA (499), Cantonment (438), Askari X (428), Liberty (266), Choung (245), Model Town (237) and Wahdat Colony (222). Cold and dry weather persisted in Lahore on Monday and similar conditions are expected on Tuesday.
MET officials said a westerly wave is likely to approach the western parts of the country from tonight and intensify from December 30. The system is expected to affect most upper and central regions on December 31 and persist in upper areas until January 1, 2026.
They forecast cold and partly cloudy to cloudy weather across most parts of the country. However, rain accompanied by wind and thunderstorms, with snowfall over the hills, is likely in Balochistan, while similar conditions are expected at a few places in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir and adjoining hilly areas during the evening and night. Moderate to dense fog in patches may develop over plain areas of north and south Punjab and upper Sindh during morning and night hours.
Meanwhile, heavy fog disrupted traffic on motorways in the Central Region. According to a Central Region spokesperson, the M-2 motorway from Lahore to Kot Momin was closed due to fog, while the M-3 from Faizpur to Darkhana was also shut for traffic. Similarly, the M-4 from Pindi Bhattian to Khanewal and the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway (M-11) were closed owing to poor visibility.
The spokesperson added that heavy fog engulfed the national highways in Lahore, Pattoki, Okara and Sahiwal, while visibility was severely reduced in Chichawatni, Iqbal Nagar, Mian Channu, Khanewal, Multan and Bahawalpur. Visibility on several stretches of the national highway was recorded between 0 and 100 metres.