KARACHI: The tropical depression in the Arabian Sea has grown into a cyclone, “Tauktae”, and a heatwave is battering the city from Sunday (May 16), the Met Office said on Saturday.

“Hot/very hot weather is likely to occur during the next two days (Sunday and Monday),” The Heat Wave Center of the Met Office said.

Maximum daytime temperature may rise up to between 40 degress Celsius and 42 degrees Celsius on May 16 and May 17.

“The system is likely to intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm (SCS) during the next 12 to 18 hours and move in north-northwest direction and reach Indian Gujarat by 18th May morning,” the Met said.

The present environmental conditions suggest that the cyclonic system is likely to unleash rainfall and dust storm and thunderstorm, and gusty winds up to 60 kilometers an hour may batter Karachi, Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Dadu from May 18 to May 20.

Similarly, widespread rainfall and dust and thunderstorm and gusty winds of 90 kilometers an hour are likely to strike Thatta, Badin, Thar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Sanghar districts from May 17 to May 20.

The intensified Cyclone Tauktae over southeast Arabian Sea is lying centered near latitude 12.7N and longitude 72.3E, at a distance of about 1,460 kilometers south-southeast of Karachi on May 15.

Maximum sustained winds around the system centre are up to 100 kilometers an hour.

Sea conditions will be from rough to very rough, and fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea from May 16 to May 20.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021