Lahore (Staff Report): Dense smog and fog persisted in various parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday morning, causing a number of accidents.
However, the Met department has predicted rainfall with thunder from today night in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Islamabad and upper Punjab.
The downpour is expected to clear the sky of smog that has affected visibility in many areas of the country, especially Punjab.
Smog in Lahore has crossed all the international benchmarks as PM2.5 level, which is termed the most dangerous pollutant in the air across the world, remained between 450ug/m3 and 500ug/m3 against the notified standards of 35ug/m3 per day.
As per World Health Organisation standards, the daily average level of PM2.5 should not be more than 10ug/m3 and aggregated annual mean 25ug/m3 in a day whereas as per a gazette notification of the Punjab government, the daily limit of PM2.5 is 15ug/m3 and aggregated annual mean 35ug/m3 per day.
