KARACHI: A weather system in the Arabian Sea started to show its effects on the weather in the metropolis by cutting the sea breeze to the city on Saturday. Karachiites sweated through the hot day as the mercury touched the mark of 40.5 degrees Celsius, said an official of the Meteorological Department, adding that similar conditions might prevail on Sunday.

Responding to Dawn’s queries, the weatherman said that Chhor and Mithi in the southeast of the province, Nawabshah and Dadu in the central/upper areas of the province were the hottest places in the country on Saturday where the mercury touched the mark of 42 degrees Celsius.

He said that owing to the weather system in the Arabian Sea low pressure had developed there which was not only curtailing the sea breeze entering the coastal areas, including Karachi, but was also sucking in air from the coast to the sea, creating a vacuum, and resulting into pulling of the hot continental winds to the coastal areas during daytime. The situation, however, would change during the evening and night when the sea breeze would re-enter the coast, including the provincial capital, turning the evening weather pleasant.

He said that the minimum temperature in the city on Saturday was 25.5 degrees Celsius and humidity — the amount of moisture in the atmosphere — during early morning was 60 per cent and later on, as the sea breeze was curtailed, humidity went down to 21pc.