Rain rain, come again: No traces of city’s first rainfall of this season

Tuesday’s rain can be classified as ‘trace rainfall’ which is too low to be recorded.

KARACHI: The early risers in Karachi can swear they woke up to gray clouds and rain pouring outside their windows. The city's met office has no clue.

The light rainfall that took place on Tuesday morning went unrecorded by the Pakistan Meteorological Department, which claims that not enough water collected for it to take measurements.

According to a duty officer, 'trace rainfall' was reported from various parts of the city due to which they could not measure the actual downpour. "If the rainfall happens to be less than one millimetre, it is considered to be 'trace rainfall' and cannot be measured," said duty forecasting officer of the meteorological department.

The residents claimed, however, that they witnessed significant amounts of rain. An employee of Karachi Golf Club, Owais Muhammad, left his home in North Karachi at 9am and, by the time he reached Gulshan-e-Iqbal, it was drizzling hard. "When I reached the Golf Club, the roads were partially submerged in rain water," he said.

Parts of North Karachi, University Road, Saddar, DHA and Clifton received light showers. The rain also caused some inconveniences to motorcyclists as their vehicles struggled with slippery roads.

For the children who are enjoying their winter break, Tuesday offered a good opportunity to head to the beach. "My school is off so I begged my mother to bring me here," said Sana, who was enjoying at Sea View along with her older cousins.

A few residents of Sea View also headed to the beach to enjoy the lovely day. "We usually visit the seashore early in the morning but, today, the weather happens to be so romantic that we couldn't resist coming out here," claimed an old couple.

Forecast for Wednesday

The weather is likely to remain cloudy today (Wednesday), according to the meteorological department. Light rain is also expected in the next 24 hours, an official told The Express Tribune.

The temperature in the city witnessed a dip of one degree due to the drizzle, he added. The minimum temperature will be between 13 and 15 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. Before the rain, the maximum temperature was recorded 26.5 degrees Celsius, however, it dropped to 25 degrees Celsius after the rain.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2014.