KARACHI: Some parts of the city received light to moderate rains on Friday, though hot and humid weather remained mostly unaffected for the third consecutive day.

After daylong extreme hot and humid weather, the brief spell of downpour brought some relief to citizens.

However, meteorological department officials said that despite rains, humidity levels remained mostly unchanged which kept the weather conditions uncomfortably hot.

The city sizzled at 38.5 degrees centigrade with 79 per cent humidity that pushed up the ‘feels-like’ temperature to 47°C.

Humidity levels remain unchanged despite showers; feels-like temperature drops to 47°C

The overcast conditions finally led to rains mostly in the outskirts and east district.

The highest rainfall count was recorded at University Road with 14.8 mm while all other areas received single digit count of the rain.

“Thunderstorm cells” formed on the outskirts initially hit Gadap Town and later caused showers in Bahria Town, Gulist­an-i-Jauhar, Motorway M9, Scheme 33, Surjani Town, Guls­han-i-Iqbal, North Nazimabad, Hasan Square, Essa Nagri, PIB Colony, and Bahadurabad.

‘Current conditions to prevail for a day or two’

In a weather forecast, the Met Office said that monsoon currents from the Arabian Sea were penetrating southern parts of the country and a westerly wave was affecting upper parts of the country. In addition, heavy falls are expected at isolated places in lower Sindh during the period, it added.

Dr Sardar Sarfaraz, the chief meteorologist of Pakistan Meteorological Department, said that the current weather conditions are likely to prevail for another day or two with chances of light to moderate rain in parts of the city.

The sea breezes, he said, are blocked due to low pressure area that at times makes the ‘feels-like’ temperature much higher. The situation, he said, would improve gradually as the sea breezes would restore to some extent after July 22.

The impact of low pressure area which has blocked the sea breezes would fizzle out.

The city, which witnessed more than 30 deaths presumably due to heatstroke over the past two days, didn’t witness any death due to bad weather on Friday.

However, the health department said that during the day a total of 36 people were brought to different hospitals of the city who had “suffered heatstroke” and all of them were discharged from hospitals after proper medical care.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2024