Hot spell to continue in Karachi

KARACHI: Friday, the first day of the hot spell recently forecast by the Meteorological department saw dry, warm winds blowing across the metropolis for the most part of the day, raising the city’s temperature to 38.5 degrees Celsius.

It’s the first hot spell since Ramazan began on April 13. The minimum temperature recorded was 27 degrees Celsius. Relative humidity recorded was 78 per cent and 55pc in the evening, respectively.

The hot spell is likely to continue for the next two days with temperature ranging between 37 and 40 degrees Celsius.

“You must have noticed that the weather was fine till 11am. It changed later when warm dry winds took over and blocked the sea breeze, which had been keeping the city’s weather pleasant for over a week,” said Sardar Sarfaraz of the Met department.

The warm dry continental winds, he explained, were an after-effect (being experienced in the southern parts of the country) of the departing western disturbance that had caused rain and hailstorms in upper parts of the country.

“This is a normal phenomenon which follows when this system departs. The weather is likely to remain like this at least for the next two days.”

It might be recalled that the Met department’s heatwave centre has predicted a hot spell from April 23 to 25. “Daytime maximum temperature may rise to 38-40 degrees Celsius during the period. Wind direction is likely to be from northeast till afternoon and shifting to southwest from evening,” stated the department’s website.