KARACHI: Pakistan has become the hottest place on earth in April when the temperature crossed 50 degrees Celsius in Nawabshah on the last day of the year’s fourth month breaking its own record of 49.2 Celsius which was recorded in 2017, the Met office confirmed on Wednesday.

It said on April 30, Nawabshah sizzled at 50.2 Celsius and it was the first time in the history of the country and the world when the temperature touched the 50-degree mark in April.

“Last year we recorded 49.2 Celsius on April 22,” said Abdul Rasheed, director of the Met office. “The temperature further increa­sed this year and touched 50.2 Celsius mark on April 30. The city has a history of being warm and humid in the summer, but being so hot in April is a little unusual. The weather remains extreme in May and temperature starts declining in June,” he said.

The sizzling temperatures in Pakistan also hit the headlines in the international media and The Washington Post reported that the recent record of temperature in Nawabshah “might just be the highest temperature ever reliably measured on the planet during April”.

The confirmation also came from the Met official, but it said the fresh record was restricted to April only as in the past, parts of the country had witnessed more than the recently-recorded temperature.

“In May 2017, Turbat sizzled at 54 Celsius, but obviously April had never been so hot in the past. Climate change overall is affecting the temperature in the country. The month of May this year across the country is predicted to be hotter than last year and then in June the temperature is expected to decline,” said Mr Rasheed.

The Washington Post in its report referred to data of Meteo France — the French national meteorological service — which said it was the warmest April temperature ever recorded in Pakistan and for the entire Asian continent.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2018