Four cities witness hottest days in their history

KARACHI: The hottest day for the month of April in the history of Pakistan was observed on Wednesday when Larkana touched 50°C, followed by Moenjo Daro (49°C), the Pakistan Meteorological Department said.

“Never in the history of the Sindh province, had temperature risen to 50°C in the month of April,” the officials said. The officials further added that it was a clear manifestation of the extreme weather patterns to be observed after the climate change and related phenomenon.

“Today, four cities of Pakistan witnessed the hottest days of their history in the month of April, including Larkana (50°C), while its previous highest temperature was 48.5°C, followed by Sibi (49°C) where the previous highest temperature was 48°C,” Pakistan Meteorological Department Director General Ghulam Rasool told ‘The News’ on Wednesday.

Terming the current spell of extremely hot and dry weather as a ‘very alarming situation’, the director general said that the ongoing heatwave in the central parts of Pakistan was in fact related to climate change. “Yesterday, Lahore witnessed the hottest day of its history when the temperature rose to 45°C,” the director general said and warned of more extreme weather events in the days to come.

Ghulam Rasool further said that the month of April was the onset of summers in Pakistan. He warned that a full-blown summer season was yet to arrive in Pakistan as traditionally, May and June would be the hottest months in the country.

“Temperatures would further rise by 3-4°C in the coming months,” he claimed and asked the authorities and people to remain cautious and plan for the hottest days in the coming months.

The weather pundit predicted that power crises and water scarcity would intensify in the coming days due to extremely hot and dry weather as no rains were witnessed in the months of May and June in entire Pakistan.

“Drastic measures would have to be taken in order to manage the power and water situation,” he said. “There is no water in rivers, dams and canals at the moment and the water requirement of humans, animals and the agricultural sector would intensify in the days of scarcity of water.”