Met Office warns of mild heatwave in city between May 1 and 3

Warning Karachi’s residents of a mild heatwave that is likely to occur at the start of May, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Saturday said mercury could cross 40 degrees Celsius in the city between May 1 and 3.

The Met Office urged the authorities as well as the people to adopt precautionary measures during the aforementioned period.

“Summer has been there and the warmest month of the year, May, is starting with a mild heat wave in Karachi this year. We are expecting the temperature to rise above 40 degrees Celsius and it could reach up to 42 degrees Celsius during the first three days of May 2019,” Met Office Karachi Chief Meteorologist Abdur Rashid told The News.

PMD officials said the temperature rose to 37 degrees Celsius in Karachi on Saturday, adding that the temperature would continue to rise from Sunday onwards as they were expecting it to remain between 37 and 39 degrees Celsius on Sunday and between 38 and 40 degrees Celsius on Monday.

“All the western disturbances and systems that were causing rains and blowing westerly and south westerly winds towards Karachi are over and now we are under a high pressure area. Under the influence of this high pressure area, wind direction would change and we are expecting hot to very hot days from May 1 to 3,” Rashid said.

He, however, claimed that the temperature would drop before the start of Ramazan and mercury was expected to remain between 36 and 38 degrees Celsius at the start of the holy month.

He said the occurrence of mild to moderate heat waves in Karachi were not out of the question during Ramazan as the holy month of the Islamic calendar was falling in May, which was the warmest month in Pakistan.

Urging the authorities and people to be cautious during the hot and sunny days, Rashid said if the people adopted precautionary measures and the authorities continued to supply electricity and water to the citizens, there was no likelihood of any untoward incident in Karachi.

“Children and elderly people should avoid venturing out during daytime, especially from 11pm to 3pm, whereas, labourers working under the sun should also take precautionary measures and keep themselves hydrated. In case of emergency, people should approach the nearest health care facility,” Rashid said.

It is worth mentioning here that hundreds of people had died during a week-long heat wave in Karachi in June 2015 when mercury had risen to 44 to 46 degrees Celsius during Ramazan.