KARACHI: Mercury rose to around 41 degrees centigrade in the city on Saturday as southern parts of the province remained in the grip of a heatwave that’s likely to continue for the next two days with maximum temperature ranging between 38°C to 40°C.

The Met department’s data showed that Karachi’s temperature had ranged between 38°C and 39°C over the past four days (from Sept 27-30).

The maximum temperature recorded on Saturday was 40.6°C with 26 per cent relative humidity.

“The weather pattern is pretty normal as we are currently experiencing a transition period, moving away from the monsoon to the winters, which is herald with a change in the wind direction that cuts off the cool sea breeze,” explained Chief Meteorologist Dr Sardar Sarfaraz.

Since June, he said, coastal winds had been blowing in the city, keeping the city’s temperature cool.

“This pattern is now changing. The wind direction has changed from southwesterly to northeasterly to northwesterly, which means the wind is coming from the desert regions of either Tharparkar and Rajasthan or Balochistan. Hence, it’s hot and dry, causing a spike in temperature,” he explained.

Dr Sarfaraz pointed out that despite touching 41°C mark, Sept 30 wasn’t the hottest day on record.

“The highest temperature on record for the month of September was 42°C. The last days of September and the whole month of October in Karachi have historically been warm to very warm. In fact, the month of October is the hottest month for Karachi with average temperature of 35.6°C along with May and June,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2023