Karachi is likely to experience a heatwave from today with daytime temperature expected to soar to 41 degrees Celsius — around 4-6°C above normal — and will last till April 23 (Wednesday), the Met department said on Sunday.

“Due to heatwave conditions in Karachi, the general public especially children, women and senior citizens are advised to take precautionary measures,” according to the Met department’s advisory issued today, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com.

“Avoid exposure to direct sunlight during the day time and remain hydrated.”

The advisory noted that hot/very hot and dry weather is likely to prevail over most parts of the province.

Sunday saw a maximum temperature of 39-41°C and a minimum of 25°C, with north/northwesterly winds becoming west/southwesterly winds.

Week-long heatwave, prolonged outages affect life in Sindh cities

As Sindh has been in the grip of a heatwave for around a week, the harsh weather is taking a toll on people’s health with heatstroke and gastroenteritis on the rise in many districts and towns amid prolonged power outages.

While the Sindh health department downplayed the surge in cases, a large number of patients from different towns in Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, and Naushahro Feroze districts have been reported to hospitals in their respective areas.

April has been a hotter month in central and upper Sindh as average temperature reached up to 45 degrees Celsius. However, mercury soared to 49°C on Thursday after a gap of about seven years in Shaheed Benazirabad, making it unbearable for residents, especially children and elderly persons.

On Saturday, Jacobabad was the hottest city across the country with 45°C followed by Dadu, Padidan, Mithi and Mohenjo Daro (43°C), Sukkur, Hyderabad and Nawabshah (42°C). The maximum temperature in Karachi and Thatta was 37°C and 36°C.