Light rain turns weather pleasant in Karachi

Karachi: An unexpected spell of light rain in different areas of Karachi on Friday night turned the weather pleasant but caused power outages in localities while accumulation of water also resulted in vehicular traffic jams on roads in the city.

“It was development of CB cells (Cumulonimbus clouds) over Lasbella and surrounding areas of Balochistan, which drifted towards Karachi, creating dust storm, lightening and light rain. It is over now after causing light rain in various areas of the city”, said Sardar Sarfraz, Chief Meteorological Officer at Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) in Karachi.

Weather remained warm and humid on Friday but conditions started improving in the evening when Karachiites observed overcast skies with cool breeze blowing and as soon as the sun set, a mild dust storm followed by light rain with lightening was observed in Surjani Town, Gadap, North Karachi and Sohrab Goth areas.

People from different areas of the city flooded social media platforms including facebook, twitter and whatsApp with videos and messages of light to moderate rain from North Karachi, North Nazimabad, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Shahrah-e-Faisal, Shah Faisal Colony, University road and adjoin areas where a short spell of rain caused accumulation of water on the roads for a short period.

A few minutes later Cumulonimbus clouds covered entire Karachi and caused light rain in the Saddar, Burns Road, I.I Chundrigar and other areas of the city, which caused vehicular traffic congestion at Preedy Street and internal arteries of the Saddar.

PMD officials said although people considered it a good spell of rain, hardly 1.2 to 2.4 millimeters of rain was recorded from different areas of the city and added that the light spell of rain, however, turned the weather pleasant by dropping the temperature in the city.

“Temperature dropped to 28 degrees Celsius from 32 degrees following rain and it is hoped that Friday night would be very pleasant in Karachi. Weather would remain warm and humid with 34-36 degrees Celsius on Saturday and Sunday”, said Sardar Sarfraz, Chief Met Karachi.

PMD officials said this unexpected spell of rain has nothing to do with monsoon season, which is expected to start from the first or second week of July, saying upper parts of the country are expected to receive slightly above normal while Sindh and Balochistan are feared to have slightly below normal rains in the current season that starts in July and ends in the September.

On the other hand, Light rain resulted in power outages in different areas of the city due to development of faults in the transmission as well as preventive measures adopted by the power utility.

Some city areas were without power till filing of this report and officials of the K-Electric said their teams were working on for the restoration of electricity in the troubled areas.