LAHORE: The plains, especially in Sindh and Punjab, continued to reel under a severe heatwave on Sunday with the Met department forecasting no immediate relief.
Blazing sun has been spitting fire on the plains for around a week. Nights too are very hot, denying any relief to people even after sunset.
Repeated loadshedding and low voltage are adding to the misery of the people across the country, making it extremely hard for them to brave the exceptional heat.
Central and southern Punjab and Sindh are especially affected.
But while the heatwave is causing a great deal of inconvenience for people in urban areas, it is making farmers and irrigation experts happy.
Farmers think it is a blessing for crops, especially fruits, and irrigation experts say it is accelerating the much-needed glacier and snow melting, sending in water for dams.
The hottest towns in the country on Sunday were Jacobabad and Dadu where the maximum temperature was 49 degrees Celsius. The highest temperature in Punjab was recorded in Bhakkar, Noorpur Thal and Kasur -- 47.5 degrees.
The highest-ever maximum temperature in the country was recorded in Jacobabad in 1919 at 53 degrees, according to the meteorological department. The town’s maximum temperature on Saturday was 50 degrees.
The highest temperature of this season was recorded in Larkana on Friday at 51 degrees.
It remained very hot in Lahore and other Punjab cities. The provincial capital’s maximum temperature was 46.3 degrees. Almost all other Punjab cities also recorded 43 to 47 degrees maximum temperature.
Scorching heat and extremely hot wind forced people to remain indoors in Lahore. Families were, however, seen daring to beat the heat at the city’s canal.
Power outages gravely affected water supply based on electric tube-wells in the entire city, making people curse the administration. There was not enough water even for cooking meals in many localities.
The Met department said a shallow trough of a westerly wave that moved eastwards had caused light rain in some parts of the northern areas. There was no more westerly wave in sight and, therefore, there were chances of the heatwave intensifying in coming days.
“Temperature will either remain the same or rise in Sindh and Punjab,” a meteorologist said. He forecast very hot and mainly dry weather with chances of dusty winds in most parts of the country during the next 24 hours.
However, isolated thunderstorm with dust and rain are likely in Malakand, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir.
Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2014