PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has issued a weather advisory about very hot and dry weather during the current week.

PDMA has sent a letter to all the deputy commissioners across the province alerting them about a weather advisory issued by the Pakistan Metrological Department.

It said that weather would remain very hot and dry during the week all over the country. “The plains of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh will be the centre of the heatwave where temperatures will cross over 45 degrees Celsius and in central parts of country will touch a critical level of 50 Celsius,” it said.

The letter also said that temperatures in the mountainous areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir will also rise by 4 to 5 degrees above average resulting in rapid melting of snow and glaciers.

The PDMA said that keeping in view the intense heat and dry weather, people should avoid heatstroke and dehydration as advised by health authorities.

However, a met department official downplayed the advisory, saying that intense heatwave would affect central parts of the country, which included Multan, Larkana, Sibbi and other adjoining areas, while the mercury would continue to hover between 40 to 42 degrees Celsius in Peshawar and adjoining areas.

He said in KP, temperature was likely to go up to 45 degrees in Dera Ismail Khan. “The current heatwave will continue to subside by 22-24 of this month and after that a spell of rain will lash the region,” the Met official said.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2016