KARACHI: The city of Karachi will be least affected by the week-long heatwave set to hit Sindh from Tuesday (today) when the temperature is expected to soar six to eight degrees centigrade above normal in at least nine cities, a forecast of the Pakistan Meteorological Department showed.

On Monday, the Met department recorded the highest temperature (47°C) in Jacobabad followed by Mohenjo Daro and Shaheed Benazirabad (46.5°C), Sakrand (46°C), Larkana (45.5°C), Sukkur (43.3°C), Padidan (43.5°C), Dadu (43.5°C), Mithi (43°C), Rohri (42.5°C), Khairpur (42.7°C), Mirpurkhas (40.5°C) and Hyderabad and Chhor (42.5°C), Tandojam (42°C), Badin (39°C) and Thatta (37°C).

Karachi remained the “coolest among Sindh districts” on Monday with 36.3°C with 55 per cent humidity.

“Thanks to the sea breeze that’s expected to continue during the week despite the high pressure built up in the upper atmosphere,” Chief Meteorologist Dr S. Sarfaraz said.

Met Dept forecasts unusually hot weather in nine cities of province from today

The Met department’s data of the past two days indicated that most cities saw a brief respite from very hot weather during Sunday and Monday when the maximum daytime temperature fell slightly after experiencing harsh weather conditions on Saturday.

According to the Met officials, these weather developments were directly linked to the two systems — formation of a high pressure area in the upper atmosphere and a westerly wave — currently prevailing over the region.

“On Saturday, the high pressure area was dominant, leading to intense weather. This spell was broken by the westerly wave, providing some relief to the people,” explained Dr Sarfaraz.

He added that from Tuesday onwards only the high pressure area would prevail in the region as the other system would pass on.

The weatherman said that technically Karachi would not experience the coming heatwave.

“For a heatwave to happen, the daily temperature has to be four to five degrees above the monthly average temperature for at least five days. In case of Karachi, there could be an exception of one or two days during which the city may experience intense heat as happened last Saturday,” he said, adding that the maximum temperature was expected to range between 36-38°C.

According to Dr Sarfaraz, the month of May has historically been the hottest across the country. Global warming, however, has increased the frequency of hot and dry weather.

“The province of Sindh and south Punjab saw a prolonged spell of heatwave in 2022. The affected areas were four degrees Celsius warmer than the average for Pakistan as a whole in both March and April,” he recalled.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2024