Siberian high Mercury likely to dip further from today

LAHORE: A giant Siberian Front is piercing its way down to relatively warmer South Asian plains, avowing a further dip in the Celsius from Friday (today) onwards, if it does not lose its weight on the way.

According to Met office, Pakistan is expected to experience an even colder spell from coming Friday, with the impending system arresting the mercury around one degree Celsius on the lower side. The higher side won’t either be that encouraging. The sunlight is anticipated to lose breath while struggling to keep the atmosphere warm. Anything over 13 degrees Celsius on the maximum side will be a bonus. This is just Lahore’s forecast. Further north, the weather will be ruthless.

The current westerly weather system, as it sails along the usual north-eastern direction, is forming a huge north-south loop. It has curves on each end. This has allowed the system, or gang of systems, more access to moisture. This moisture is feeding strength to the eye(s) of the great pack of the Westerly. In fact, the subsystem within the pan-continental giant system, which is violating the flight plan, might unfold its ferocity in Lahore from coming Friday to the mid next week (Wednesday).

The extreme cold weather will surely warrant traffic alarms. It is also expected to up the existing lung problems. If the system strikes hard, it can also create problems for regular electric supply due to fog.

Interestingly, the sub-system within the gigantic westerly is ominous for this part of the world. As convoys of clouds fly along the usual north-east direction, which is not a frequent phenomenon during this part of the year, a dense condensed bulk of the Siberian High is snaking down, tailing slightly low-pressure warmer terrain southward. It’s chasing hotter landmass all the way through the Central Asian Republics to Pakistan via Afghanistan.

The highs are known for little movement even in summers, the Siberian High seems hyperactive in this winter. The lows have the potential of moving fast, bumping into highs, leading to storms and rainfall. The highs are cold, heavy and laden with moisture, usually.

Based in the east of Northern Urals in Russia, this Siberian Cold buildup has already wreaked havoc with the mainland USA, looping over the Arctic, north-western Canada and eastern Alaska. The Frontal attack simply wrapped the entire USA. It led to an unprecedented drop from north-eastern USA right down to Mexico.

At the moment, the entire northern Europe, West Asia, South Asia and Far East seem to have been engulfed by a giant cloud cover. The major impact appears to be in the northern hemisphere slight away from the tropical belts. Even more interesting is the fact the nastiest high during this season, the Siberian High, which usually moves to Mongolia, China and descends down to the Far East after initial bulge, is so powerful that it flipped over the Arctic.

If that was not enough, it got accentuated to the level that it has started moving southward, making its way through relatively warmer valleys. At the moment, the frills of this high front are flirting with Pakistan’s plains. It’s just the periphery of the stupendous high. Once the system makes further inroads, the temperature will be the immediate victim.

Rain could also be another eventuality. The chain of lows from the south, part of the same overall weather activity, and some others around the Caspian Sea are also advancing eastward. The high weather system is expected to donate chill to the moist low, which might cause rainfall in Pakistan and India.

The minimum temperature is expected to take a dip Friday night. It could fall to 4 degrees Celsius. The Met wizards believe it will dive to 1 degree Celsius, and stay there till next Wednesday. This will be the record low temperature for this winter.

Dense fog is expected during the first phase of the coming cold spell of four to five days. Once the low-weather joins the party, Lahore could have slight to heavy overcast.