A new cold wave gripped the entire Sindh including the country’s largest city Karachi with temperatures plunging below the freezing point on Saturday night, making it the coldest spell of current winters people witnessed in the province, according to the automated weather station network.
Karachi’s coldest day
On the night between Saturday and Sunday, the provincial capital also witnessed the coldest night of the ongoing winter. The metropolitan city, known for its mild winters, recorded its minimum temperature with the mercury sinking to 6 degrees Celsius on Sunday morning, while in the city’s outskirts, it plunged to 4.5 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, the PMD also witnessed an added decrease in the city’s maximum temperature, which was recorded at 22.8 degrees Celsius.
Record low temperatures
The bone-chilling low temperatures as recorded by the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD)on Friday included:
- -2.7°C in Moro, a division of Naushahro Feroze
- 1 °C in Mohenjodaro and Mithi
- 1.5 °C in Sukkur,
- 1.8 °C in Choor
- 3 °C in Dadu and Tnadojam,
- 3.8 °C in Rohri
- 4 °C in Larkana
- 5 °C in Shaheed Benazirabad and Badin
- 6 °C in Hyderabad and Thatta
- 7.5 °C in PAF Base Masroor (Karachi)
- 8.5 °C in PAF Base Faisal (Karachi)
Mohen-Jo-Daro recorded the lowest temperature ever in the history of the region. The lowest temperature recorded in Sindh is -5.4°C, recorded in 2006.
PMD predicted the cold wave
Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had predicted that a “cold wave” was likely to engulf Sindh, including Karachi, from Thursday with the temperature expected to fall to 5 to 7 °C for the next five days in the provincial capital.
“A cold wave is likely to grip Sindh from Jan 12 to Jan 17. Under its influence, minimum temperature may drop to 2-4°C in Larkana, QambarShahdadkot, Kashmore, Jacobabad, Jamshoro, Dadu, Tharparkar districts,” it had said in its latest forecast.