Met office dispels 'weather scare', forecasts routine rain.

LAHORE -- Denying any scare about possible strong 'thunderstorm, rain and hailstorms during the next three days,' the Punjab Met officials on Wednesday said that there was nothing to be 'over cautious, leave alone scared' as it would be a routine 'wet weather with gusty winds' during next 72 hours.

Talking to Dawn, they said rain-producing system would enter Pakistan on Thursday afternoon and is expected to produce 'light to moderate' rain in upper parts of the country on Friday. It may also snow at high altitudes and hailstorms at lower ones.

On Friday, there may however be some hailstorms and gusty winds in some parts of upper regions of the country. The system would extend to southern parts in next 24 hours, covering central parts of Punjab and sporadic areas of the southern parts of the province. The system will start weakening by Friday evening and move on by Saturday.

A scare was created throughout the country when a letter from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) went viral on Tuesday, which had advised all federal and provincial departments to stay vigilant, ensure availability of staff during emergency, update the NDMA twice a day and told them to issue instruction to allied department in the light of this 'weather alert.'

The 'weather alert' created an...