022, in the words of Sherry Rehman, the federal minister for climate change, has been a “spring-less year” for Pakistan. We skipped the best loved season of the year, as the weather turned searing hot, and the mercury touched 44 degree Celsius, in April itself. To put it historically, this April has been the hottest Lahore has experienced in many years.

While the scientists attributed the “record-breaking heatwave” to the global climate change phenomenon, health experts issued warnings as people were “at risk of heat-related impacts.”

At the same time, the extreme temperature was a threat to the wheat crop which had matured sooner than usual and was ready to be harvested by end of March itself. It was feared that if it wasn’t harvested promptly, continued heat spell — or “terminal heat stress,” in technical jargon — could shrivel the grain and affect the quality of the yield.

Mercifully, we seem to have narrowly escaped what could’ve been a disaster. If the authorities are to believe, we got a bumper wheat crop. Everyone from growers and farmers to dealers and buyers is expected to be laughing all the way to the bank.