KARACHI: With the curtailment of sea breeze entering the city, sizzling continental winds ruled the roost on Tuesday, said a Meteorological Department official.

The maximum temperature recorded in Karachi on Tuesday was 41.8 degrees Celsius.

Responding to Dawn’s queries, the weatherman said that a weather system off the Indian coast in the Arabian Sea had created a low pressure situation there which not only restricted the sea breeze from entering coastal areas, but was pulling in the hot continental winds, creating the heatwave conditions in the metropolis as well as the rest of the province.

He said that the Thar town of Chhor continued to be the hottest place in Sindh on the fourth day with the mercury rising slightly on the scale with every passing day.

He said that the maximum temperature recorded in Chhor on Tuesday was 43.3 degrees Celsius — approximately 0.6 degrees Celsius higher than that of Monday.

The steep rise in temperature by over 3.6 degrees Celsius within a day forced many Karachiites, who could afford it, to stay indoors and those who had to go outdoors sweated profusely under the bitingly bright sunshine on Tuesday, as the hot continental winds continued to punish the people who were on the roads during the day.

The weatherman said that maximum temperature recorded in the provincial capital on Tuesday was 41.8 degrees Celsius (against Monday’s 38.2 degrees Celsius) and minimum temperature was 23 degrees Celsius.

He said that humidity early on Tuesday morning was 62 per cent (as against 88pc of Monday) and with curtailment of the sea breeze to the city the humidity level in the evening came down to 18pc.

He said the weather in the city on Wednesday was expected to remain hot and dry and the maximum temperature was expected to remain between 39 and 41 degrees Celsius.

He said that many other towns in the province also experienced harsh hot weather on Tuesday and some of the towns where high temperatures were recorded included Mithi (43 degrees Celsius); Nawab­shah (42.5 degrees); Thatta (40.5) and Dadu and Hyderabad (40).

He said that similar weather conditions were expected to continue for the next few days.

Heat spell alert issued

As the health authorities of Sindh flashed alert to the respective administrations in each district, they, however, claimed the ongoing heat spell had not posed any danger to life in shape of heatstroke despite being blazingly hot.

“All the district healthcare heads in the districts of Sindh have been put on alert to join administration in saving lives as the current heat spell has not died out,” said a senior official in the provincial health ministry. The city commissioner advised the people to avoid going out unnecessarily in daytime.

The director health, Karachi, said hospitals were ordered to remain on high alert.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2017