KARACHI: The city residents woke up early on Monday morning to a brief spell of thunderstorm/hailstorm coupled with lightning and showers that hit the metropolis unannounced.

Saddar received the heaviest amount of rainfall, 12.7 millimetres, said a Meteorological Department official.

Responding to Dawn`s queries, Karachi Met Department director Abdul Rashid said that winter rains were rare in Karachi.

However, this brief spell was expected to arrive in the city on Tuesday, but it arrived a day earlier.

He said that hailstorm, a highly rare phenomenon for Karachi, was also reported during the rain spell in a few areas of the city, including Defence, Clifton, Shah Faisal Colony and Malir. He said that since 1961 hallstorm had been reported 28 times in the city, the last episode being in August/ September 2013.

He said that Landhi received 11mm of rain.

Names of other areas and the amount of rain they received were: Nazimabad (10mm); North Karachi (9.6mm); PAF Base Faisal (9mm); Jinnah Terminal (8.4mm); Model Observatory/Old Area (6.6mm); University Road and PAF Base Masroor (4mm).

The early morning hallstorm coupled with partly cloudy sky pulled the daytime temperature slightly down and Karachiites felt the chilly weather during the day. The minimum temperature recorded in the city on Monday was 14.5 degrees Celsius and the maximum was 24.2 degrees Celsius.

Humidity was 27 per cent.