ISLAMABAD: Cool and moist winds are likely to descend upon the Potohar region from the north, causing temperatures to drop in the coming days, as low pressure develops over the southern Arabian Sea and a relative calm is present over most of the country.

The same scenario will bring a second summer to Karachi and other coastal areas, where daytime temperatures will surge to over 40°C up to the middle of next week.

Karachi residents could even face a situation similar to a heat wave between Sunday and Wednesday, while the same climatic conditions could invite rainfall in parts of the twin cities, Murree, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.

“Due to the development of low pressure off the Indian coast, the flow of winds from the south towards the coastal areas of Sindh, which is in the north, will stop,” a Met Office official said.

“Under the influence, a vacuum-like situation is created in the sea, which starts inviting hot air from the vast plains of Sindh and parts of Balochistan.”

Currently, the areas with the highest temperature in the country were Dadu, Shaheed Benazirabad and Mithi at 42°C, followed by 41°C in Rohri, Sukkur and the Lasbela district of Balochistan.

Temperatures in Karachi also reached 41°C on Saturday, and will graduate increase for the next four to five days, resulting in moderate heat wave conditions in the city.

With the end of the monsoon, fast-moving winds bringing heavy clouds from the east have stopped and space is gradually being filled by slow-moving cold winds carrying mild moisture from the north and the west.

Satellite imagery of the region on the Met Office website shows scattered clouds over the north up to Kyrgyzstan.

The Met Office has said that the shallow westerly movement of clouds that persist is already present over the extreme north of the country. But as winds from east to south have stopped flowing, these clouds could come to upper Punjab, which would not only lower temperatures but would also bring traces of rain to some areas.

Winter rainfall has already been delayed in South Asia by the La Niña phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2017