KARACHI: The Pakistan Meteorological Department advised the fishermen of Sindh and Balochistan on Tuesday to refrain from venturing into the open sea from Friday to Monday (June 10 to 13) in view of the development of a tropical cyclone.
According to an advisory issued by the Met Office, the sea condition would become rough to very rough on Friday and the fishermen who were in the open sea must return to the coast before it.
It stated that a well-marked low-pressure area in the eastern Arabian Sea was likely to intensify into a depression (strong weather system) on Wednesday evening/night. “The current sea surface temperature is (around 30 degrees centigrade) and other meteorological parameters are favourable for the development of a tropical cyclone on Thursday/ Friday,” it added.
Officials said that as a result of this cyclonic activity the coastal areas of Balochistan and Sindh, including Karachi, would receive rain with thunderstorm by Friday.
However, Met Department Director-General Arif Mehmood told Dawn that it was too early to forecast rain in Karachi or anywhere else due to this low-pressure area in the Arabian Sea.
“So far it (the cyclone) is in the development process and we don’t know what will be its track and where it will go.”
Although the direction of wind did not change on Tuesday and remained south-westerly with a speed of 12 knots, the city’s maximum temperature increased by two degrees compared to Monday’s maximum temperature of 37 degrees centigrade.
The maximum temperature in the city was 39 degrees centigrade on Tuesday. The level of humidity, a measure of the amount of moisture in the air, also dropped to 38 per cent from Monday’s 57 per cent.
The Met Office forecast hot and dry weather in Karachi on Wednesday with the maximum temperature ranging between 36 and 38 degrees centigrade.
Two drown in sea near KeamariPolice found two bodies along the beach in the Keamari area on Tuesday, officials said.
The dead were thought to have drowned while swimming in the rough sea.
They said the bodies, found within a span of three hours near Keamari Gate-I, remained unidentified even after several hours.
“The clothes of one of the victims were almost intact that suggested he had drowned hardly hours before his body was found,” said an official at the Docks police station. “Both bodies were examined by the medico-legal section of the Civil Hospital Karachi, which found drowning as the cause of the deaths. Both victims were over 40. The bodies have been shifted to the Edhi morgue for identification.”