LAHORE, April 29: Global warming, hitherto considered a distant threat to this region, has started affecting the environment of the country.
According to Chief Meteorologist Shaukat Awan, most areas of the country are experiencing six to eight degrees centigrade higher temperatures than normally recorded this time of the year because of global warming.
He said the region, including Afghanistan and India, was in the grip of a heat wave, and temperatures in most parts of these countries were higher than the normal.
Awan said the April’s average temperature in Lahore was 34 degrees centigrade, but Mercury had reached 42 degrees C by the mid of the month this season. Though a localised system had provided some respite when some city parts received drizzle on April 18, the Mercury again started rising and touched 43 degrees C on Saturday (April 28), he added.
He said a similar trend of higher than normal temperatures was being experienced in other parts of the country as well, including the Northern Areas, where increased glacial melting had led to release of a greater quantity of water in the rivers.
An increased melting of glaciers, after some years, would result in lesser water flow in rivers, he observed, warning of serious water shortage if precautionary measures were not taken now.
He cautioned that if planning was not done to conserve additional water during the period when water flow was on the higher side, the country might face heavy floods. Desertification of vast areas could also be a consequence of water shortage in future, he added.
He said the phenomenon had deprived many other countries of their fertile lands.
RELIEF: Weather pundits have predicted continuation of dry and hot spell with chances of dust-raising winds over the Punjab plains during the next 24 hours
In Lahore, the maximum temperature was recorded 43 degrees C on Sunday.
According to the regional Met Office, hot and dry weather with dust-raising winds was expected in Lahore, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur regions during the next 24 hours, while Rawalpindi and DG Khan are likely to have dust storm with light rain.
The maximum temperature in Jhelum on Sunday was 40.8 degree C, in Murree it was 27.8, Sargodha 44.5, Mianwali 43, Faisalabad 44, Sialkot 43.3, Multan 44, Bahawalpur 45.6, Bahawalnagar 46.3, Khanpur 45, DG Khan 45.7, Mandi Bahauddin 41.5, Sahiwal 43, Rahim Yar Khan 45, Okara 44.6 and in Joharabad it was 42.5 degrees C.—APP