A new record high temperature of 51.5 degrees Celsius was recorded on Saturday in Dadu as a searing heat wave continued to grip large parts of Sindh province of Pakistan.
Data from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) showed that Dadu’s previously recorded highest temperature was 51.4 degrees Celsius on May 18, 2016.
By late afternoon on Saturday, 51 degrees Celsius temperature was also recorded in Jacobabad while in three other places — Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawabshah), Larkana and Mohenjodaro — the mercury hit 50 degrees Celsius, Sarfaraz Khan, chief meteorologist at the Karachi office of the PMD, said.
By late afternoon, temperature had peaked at 51.5 degrees Celsius in Dadu, which is a new maximum temperature record for the city, he said, adding, “It is not the first time. In Sindh province, higher temperatures have been recorded previously. In 2024, temperatures in the Mohenjodaro city ruins had peaked at 53 degrees Celsius.”
Khan said while the maximum temperature recorded in Karachi was 37.5 degrees Celsius, other places in Sindh like Sakrand, Ghotki, Khairpur, the temperatures ranged from 46 to 49 centigrade.
The met office and the Sindh Disaster Management Authority have forecast more hot and dry weather in Sindh and Balochistan provinces for Sunday too and have cautioned people, particularly children and the elderly, to avoid going outdoors in direct sunlight.
Sibi and Turbat in the Balochistan province too are experiencing unusually high temperatures.
Pakistan is ranked among those countries most vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather and has faced increasing heatwaves, floods and droughts in recent years.
Earlier in the month, Karachi witnessed a maximum temperature surge to 44 degrees Celsius on May 4, the hottest day since 2018.
At least 10 people died in different parts of Karachi, all believed to have died as a result off high temperature earlier in the month, officials said.
The highest ever temperature recorded in the coastal city is 48 degrees Celsius before partition.
Sunday will also see temperatures between 44–47 degrees Celsius in the Tharparkar, Badin, Hyderabad, Matiari, Tando Mohammad Khan, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Jamshoro and Sanghar district, Khan added.
