LAHORE, May 19: Very hot and dry weather continued to persist in major parts of the country including Lahore on Sunday for the third day running.

The Met office said a shallow trough of westerly wave might provide some relief in the upper parts of Pakistan and in northern Punjab. The rest of the country will continue to reel under the very hot and dry weather in the next 24 hours.

As in other cities, blazing sun and extremely hot gusty winds kept people off the roads despite the fact that there was also no respite indoors because of the prolonged and repeated power loadshedding. Short water supply was another nuisance faced by the people.

A large number of people nevertheless followed the tradition of beating the heat at the Lahore canal, caring little how much polluted it is.

Families, including children and women, picnicked at the Jallo Park portion of the canal.

The maximum temperature was 45 degrees C and the minimum night time 27 degrees C with 31 per cent humidity in the morning and 18 per cent in the evening.

The highest temperature in the country was recorded in Dadu -- 48.1 degrees C. The highest maximum temperature in Punjab was 47.4 degrees C in Noorpur Thal.

The Met Department forecast dust, thunderstorm/rain with strong winds at isolated places of Malakand, Mardan, Hazara divisions, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir, Peshawar, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Sargodha regions in the next 24 hours.

It will remain hot and dry in the rest of the country including Lahore with chances of dust raising winds.