Karachi braved another cold night when the mercury dropped to a single digit during the night between Monday and Tuesday, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD). The Met Office said that the minimum temperature recorded in the city was 9 degrees Celsius.
“Yesterday [Monday] night was the coldest for Karachi in this winter season after the mercury dropped to 9°C on the night between Monday and Tuesday,” Karachi Met Office chief Abdur Rashid told The News on Tuesday.
PMD officials said that the feels-like temperature was 6°C, which was quite surprising for Karachi, where the mercury usually remains higher compared to other parts of the country and even its own suburbs.
Rashid recalled that the minimum temperature ever recorded in the month of December in Karachi was 1.3°C on December 14, 1986. He said the city had experienced freezing temperature on January 21, 1934, when the mercury dropped to zero degrees.
“Karachi used to have great winters when it was not a big city, when there were more trees and lesser cars,” he said, adding that the temperature used to drop to 4°C to 8°C until a few decades ago.
The Met Office chief said they are expecting the minimum temperature in the city to remain between 8°C and 10°C for the next 48 hours under the influence of the north-western winds, adding that the mercury is expected to start rising on Friday.
“Last year, the minimum temperature recorded in Karachi was 8.6°C.” Environmentalists and weather scientists blame extreme lack of tree cover, excessive carbon emissions from vehicles and gases emitted in the air from the chimneys of factories as main reasons behind rising temperatures even in winters.