Met office forecasts showers in sweltering Karachi

Met office forecasts proper rainfall in city by Wednesday

KARACHI: After spending nearly four days in the scorching heatwave, some residents of Karachi breathed a sigh of relief when their neighbourhoods received light showers on Monday afternoon.

Dark clouds descended on the entire city but did little to break the heat of the past few days. The light showers only managed to make the mercury drop from 41 degrees Celsius to 38 degrees. The areas that received some rain included North Karachi, Buffer Zone, New Karachi, Federal B Area and North Nazimabad, followed by Gulshan-e-Iqbal and PECHS by evening.

But there is hope. According to the director for the Institute of Meteorology and geophysics, Abdul Rashid, the city will have more rain in this week. "Rains will hit Karachi properly by Wednesday while light showers are expected on Tuesday," he said.

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The light rain that took place on Monday was unexpected and it occurred due to the low wind pressure in the Arabian Sea. "The drizzle [took place] due to lower clouds in the sea, which showered for hardly five minutes in the northern areas of cities," he said.

The weather is changing every four hours, he said, pointing out that the winds are getting stronger which is why the rain forecast is changing every day. Due to frequent climate changes, Karachi may receive heavy rain by late afternoon on Tuesday, he added.

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But the residents found joy in the five-minute drizzle. "It feels like we have beaten the heat after hardly five minute of drizzle," said an excited resident, Urooj Zehra, who lives in North Nazimabad. "After three days, the weather is pleasant and I hope we get more rain in the coming days."

A Federal B Area resident felt, however, that the drizzle was disappointing at best. "This drizzle is nothing and the same hot weather will continue after a few hours," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2015.