June 09, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1428

LAHORE, June 8: Merciless sun beat down in full force in the plains of Lahore, as elsewhere in Punjab, taking the Friday’s temperature to 46 degrees Celsius — the hottest day of the season.

The meteorological office recorded the temperature under the shade and it said the heat index (directly under the sun) was 53 degrees C. The previous night’s minimum temperature was 29 degrees C.

The weather readers did not see any relief in the near future, saying if it remained a cloudless day on Saturday, the temperature might further rise. The province’s other major cities, too, had over 45 degrees C, which again was the highest of the season, it added.

The city’s highest ever maximum temperature is 48 degrees C that was recorded on June 6, 1921.

The country at present is under a grip of intense heatwave in the absence of any westerly system or moist wind from the Arabian Sea. Temperatures normally drop in monsoon, but the Met office said it was far away as it formally begins in Pakistan during the first week of July.

The scorching heat caused by the blazing sun created a great deal of inconvenience for the people right from the morning. It was an equally hard day for the traffic policemen many of who were seen taking shelter under hoardings or trees instead of controlling traffic. Among the motorists, those driving two-wheelers had a hard day out. So it was for pedestrians.

Roads wore a deserted look by noon and people preferred to remain indoors. To their dismay, power breakdowns and loadshedding that had intensified in the last couple of days, made them sweat. Air-conditioners proved ineffective due to frequent power cut-offs.

Business in the wholesale and retail markets remained low-key as weather did not permit people to go shopping.

The Met office said except for some places in Balochistan, it was extremely hot all over the country because of the absence of any rain-creating system or wind from the west. Some places in Balochistan had comparatively less temperature because of the cyclone that affected coastal areas of the province on Thursday.

It said there were chances of early monsoon if it remained hot and dry over the next one week or so. “Temperatures may rise even further at least during the next two days,” a senior meteorologist said.

He said after one week moist wind from the Arabian Sea might start reaching up to Punjab. This would lower the temperature, but create mugginess if there was no westerly wave to generate rain, he said.

Monsoon activity over the Bay of Bengal had already started, he said, but there was no significant development so far.

The Met office reported that Nawabshah was the hottest city in the country with a maximum temperature of 48.5 degrees C on Friday. This was followed by Sibbi and Sargodha (Punjab) where the temperature touched 48 degrees C.

The maximum temperature in Mianwali was 47.5 degrees, the highest of the season. Bahawalnagar had 46.5 degrees C, Faisalabad (46), Sahiwal, Mandi Bahauddin, Shorkot, Sialkot and Rahim Yar Khan (45.5), Khanpur (45), Multan (44.6), Bahawalpur and Sialkot (44.5), Dera Ghazi Khan (44), and Jhelum and Islamabad 43.3 degrees C.

The Met office forecast hot and dry weather for almost all cities in the province during the next 24 hours.