Light rain predicted in city on Sunday

The Pakistan Meteorological Department has predicted light rain in the city from Sunday till Monday morning under the influence of a rain system that is likely to grip the entire country from Saturday.

“We are predicting light rain/drizzle with isolated moderate falls in Karachi on Sunday till Monday morning under the influence of a fresh rain system that is going to grip the country from Saturday,” Director Met Karachi Abdur Rashid said while talking to The News on Friday.

The Met office said a westerly wave was likely to enter he country and, under its influence, rains in the plains of the country as well as snowfall on the hills was expected from Sunday till Wednesday next week. Under this system, it added, many areas of Balochistan and Sindh would also have light to moderate rain.

Both Sindh and Balochistan are facing extreme drought- like conditions and the Sindh government has declared its Tharparkar district a calamity-hit area, while local representatives from many other districts of Sindh, including Badin and Thatta, have also called for declaring their areas calamity-hit due to absence of rains for the last many months.

But the Karachi Met director said light rain was expected in Sindh, including Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana and Sukkur divisions, but it would be enough to ease drought-like conditions. He said many areas of Balochistan would also receive rain on Sunday but it would not be enough for ending drought-like conditions there.

“We receive light rains during winters and hopefully a couple of more systems could be expected in this season, which could provide much needed rains in Sindh and Balochistan, but at the moment, we are seeing light rain in the province, which would not be enough to end the drought in the province.”

To a query, he said the temperature could drop this month in Karachi under the influence of Siberian winds in the coming days of January and the first week of February, but he added that the temperature would start rising from the mid of February in the city. “This year would also be very warm like the previous year and possibilities of heat waves could not be ruled out,” Rashid said.