Mercury soars to 44°C as sea breeze halts in Karachi

KARACHI: The sweltering heatwave in the city and elsewhere in Sindh is likely to extend its unwelcome stay by four to five days, Geo News reported, citing an official at the country's weather monitoring authority.

Mercury in Karachi touched 44°C around 3pm on Sunday. The heatwave is expected to peak between Monday and Wednesday, drastically pushing the temperatures even higher, Dr Ghulam Rasool, director-general at the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), said.

Interior areas in Sindh can expect temperatures reaching up to 50°C as a renewed heatwave envelopes the province, he warned. The official attributed the soaring temperatures to a halt in sea breeze, which allowed the heatwave — that rode into the city on Saturday — to continue for four or more days.

In particular, temperatures may touch extreme in Sibi, Jacobabad, Larkana, Nawabshah, and Dadu during the coming week, he said. Since the start of the summer season this year, there have been three heatwaves, the official explained, warning that there could be more in May and June.

Earlier, on Saturday, the PMD had said the lack of incoming sea breeze was the primary reason the temperature went up to over 40°C. To beat the heat and avoid the dangers of heatstroke, it's important to stay hydrated and avoid the sun as far as possible. If you are outside, try to keep your head covered against the sun.

Meanwhile, despite K-Electric's repeated assurances to end the loadshedding at least in areas previously exempted from power outages, several parts of Karachi were plunged into darkness late Saturday night. Many Karachiites were forced to eat Sehri in the dark as loadshedding persisted, making the hot weather harder to bear in the holy month of Ramazan.

The metropolis' sole supplier of electricity had said on Saturday it would try its best not to carry out loadshedding during Sehri and Iftar timings, adding that people should not label technical faults as loadshedding. However, Shershah, Baloch Para, North Karachi, Korangi, Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block-13 and several other localities continued to face power outages.