KARACHI, Feb 7: With dry and cold continental winds blowing in the city, Karachiites experienced the coldest day in 30 years on Tuesday when the mercury fell to 21.8 degrees centigrade during daytime, said a Met official, adding that the current cold wave was expected to persist for a couple of more days.

The weatherman said that the minimum temperature recorded on Tuesday was eight degrees centigrade while the maximum was 21.8 degrees centigrade. Humidity, or the measure of amount of moisture in the air, was recorded at four per cent.

Until now, the coldest day on record for February had been Feb 27, 1988 when the mercury dropped to 22.2 degrees centigrade.

According to the Met official, the city remained in the grip of north-westerly (Siberian) winds blowing at speed ranging from 20 knots (36 kilometres per hour) to 22 knots (39.6 kilometres per hour), whereas normally the winds in the city blew at around 12 knots (21.6 kilometres per hour).

The weather on Wednesday was expected to remain cold and dry with the minimum temperature ranging between five and seven degrees centigrade, indicating that Tuesday/Wednesday night might be colder even than the one between Monday and Tuesday.