KARACHI: Strong winds carrying dust from the Indian desert of Rajasthan swept across the city on Thursday, reducing visibility, disrupting flight operations and university exams and badly affecting city life.

Similar weather conditions have been forecast for Friday.

Responding to Dawn queries, a Met official said Karachi remained in the grip of winds coming from the north-eastern side, bringing in dust from the Indian desert of Rajasthan and drastically reducing visibility.

He said the strong winds in the first half of the day reached a speed of around 30 knots — 55.5 kilometres per hour or thereabouts — which was at least three times the normal wind speed in the city.

The huge amount of dust carried by the winds brought the visibility level down to around 100 metres from the normal visibility range of eight to nine kilometres, he added.

Air traffic disrupted

The dusty winds affected the flights operation at Jinnah International Airport. At least three flights — Iran Air, Oman Air and Emirates Airlines — that had arrived here returned owing to poor visibility and strong winds, while a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight landed during that time, said Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson Pervez George.

Exams postponed

The strong winds uprooted the tents pitched for exams at Karachi University, with the result that the examination scheduled for the day was postponed.

Besides Karachi, Thatta and some other southern parts of the province also remained in the grip of strong winds that blew off roofs of some poultry farms and small houses. People sitting indoors faced hardship due to a sudden drop in gas pressure rendering gas heaters useless.

The Met official said the temperature recorded in Karachi on Thursday ranged between 13.5 and 24 degrees Celsius. Humidity — a measure of the amount of moisture in the air — was 22 per cent, he said. He added that the minimum temperature on Friday was expected to be between 12 and 14 degrees Celsius with dry and dusty winds and cold night.

Larkana and Sukkur remained the coldest districts of Sindh where temperature dropped to three degrees Celsius, followed by Jacobabad with four degrees Celsius, Nawabshah with seven degrees Celsius, Hyderabad with eight degrees Celsius and Badin with nine degrees Celsius, according to the Met official.

He said weather in Larkana and Sukkur was likely to remain cold and dry on Friday with low fog during morning hours, while the minimum temperature was expected to range between three and five degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature in Jacobabad was expected to remain between four and six degrees Celsius, he added.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2015