New Year eve coldest night: dense fog forces CAA to shut airport for nine hours

The provincial capital's New Year eve was the coldest night of the ongoing winter session, when the mercury dropped to 1 Celsius degrees and also was blanketed by dense fog, which forced the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to close the Allama Iqbal International Airport for nine hours.
The night that divided 2010 and 2011 was very cold with an added package of dense fog. Even the day-temperature was low. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department Lahore here on Saturday, the maximum temperate was 13 Celsius degrees. For next 24 hours, the city will witness cold and dry weather and dense foggy conditions likely to prevail with improving conditions during the day and reforming during night.
Meanwhile, the upper parts of the country were in the grip of foggy conditions as the traffic on the motorway and other highways was stopped due to non-visibility. Dense fog over motorway and highway sectors (Pindi Bhattian to Lahore, Lahore to Gujranwala and Swabi to Peshawar) affected the transport to and from up-country and the movement on the highways was blocked at many places due to invisibility.
Also The Allama Iqbal International Airport was closed for nine hours from 1 am to 10.30 am due to dense fog. As per a CAA's spokesperson, nine-hour closure of the airport led to delay of all night flights and the flight activity resumed after visibility improved.
According to the met office, dense fog, after recent wet spell, has enveloped most parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (KPK). Due to high concentration of moisture in the atmosphere and low temperatures, the current dense fog will continue for another 10 days in plain areas of the country, especially in Punjab. The intensity and duration of fog is very likely to increase during the coming days in the plain areas of Punjab, Upper Sindh and central/lower parts of KPK. The dense fog in Punjab (Gujranwala, Lahore, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur divisions) will persist daily for more than 12 hrs (from midnight to midday), giving a short sunny window only in afternoon, during the coming days.
Due to prolonged foggy conditions and low sunshine, the day-temperatures (maximum), in the fog prone areas of Punjab, have already fallen between 8 and 10 Celsius degrees from normal, and the same trend of day temperatures is expected to prevail in Punjab. Due to persistent and prolonged fog, the air and ground traffic is expected to remain disrupt during next 10 days, and the travellers are therefore, advised to avail the window of clear weather during the afternoons.