LAHORE: The residents of Lahore experienced a brief respite from the scorching heat on Monday evening when strong winds, gusting over 100 kilometers per hour, swept through the city, followed by a light shower - with traces recorded in some areas and up to 1 millimeter in others.

However, meteorological officials tempered hopes of a long-term reprieve from the heat, predicting that the winds and rain would clear within the next two hours and the mercury would drop slightly before rising again by morning, with the heatwave expected to return.

“The partly cloudy conditions will clear in the next one to two hours,” said an official from the Meteorological Department. While a week-long advisory offers some hope, predicting dusty winds in upper and central Punjab between June 4 and June 8, it also warns of a “flash drought” - a condition that occurs when low rainfall is accompanied by consistently high temperatures over a short period.

According to the Met office advisory, flash droughts develop and intensify rapidly, often within weeks or even days, leading to quick increases in evapo-transpiration rates and depletion of available water in the top layer of soil. Although the country received slightly above-normal rainfall from January to May 29, 2024, the below-normal rainfall and soaring temperatures in May, particularly in southern Pakistan, may lead to flash drought conditions, the Met office warned farmers.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2024

Opinion

Editorial

Pension burden
Updated 29 Jun, 2024

Pension burden

The cost of inaction has been enormous; the national pension bill has risen 50 times during the last 20 years.
‘Hot pursuit’
29 Jun, 2024

‘Hot pursuit’

WHILE Pakistan faces a major problem in the form of terrorists from Afghanistan infiltrating the country,...
Of fatal flaws
29 Jun, 2024

Of fatal flaws

IT is remarkable how chaos seems to be the only constant with the PTI. Late on Thursday, it emerged that the...
PM spurned
Updated 28 Jun, 2024

PM spurned

The PM must ensure PTI is allowed to function just like any other political party while the latter must not set rigid conditions.
Gaza’s journalists
28 Jun, 2024

Gaza’s journalists

Israel does not want other voices to be heard, and is adamant on spinning its blood-soaked campaign in Gaza as a ‘just war’.
Chinese industries
28 Jun, 2024

Chinese industries

PRIME MINISTER Shehbaz Sharif appears to be pushing the rusty bureaucratic machinery hard to turn nearly three dozen...