Weather is uniform in Pakistan (except Karachi, which has unpredictable weather). This is why, when usually the rest of the country is suffering bitter cold or intolerable heat, Karachi isn't. It's another matter that some of those who visit Karachi say that its weather is intolerable, but I remember the writer Ayaz Amir calling it glorious (this was in November).

Just as rain in other parts of the country is predictable, in Karachi it isn't. I remember some years when there were practically no rains (as in 2021), while there have been years (like this one) when the rains have caused urban flooding and many deaths.

Sometime in the 1950s, my school compound was invaded by some families displaced by rains. They must have been there for many weeks, living in make-shift tents, preventing us from playing cricket and other games.

In 1967, there were heavy rains again, but the one I remember vividly was on 30th June 1977. About 9 inches of rain fell that night, which was a record until then. 

This year, perhaps Karachi has received more rains than any previous year. We'll know when August is over. But since people's memories are short, every time it rains heavily in Karachi, it seems like a record. It is blamed on global warming, but I doubt it. Not many people know that a tsunami struck Karachi in 1946 (it was then a very small town). I doubt if global warming was responsible for that.

0 comments