With one end of a rope tied to a tree and the other in her hand, Zareena Bibi steps into the canal that cuts through Lahore, Pakistan’s major eastern metropolis. Bibi does not know how to swim, but with the mercury rising, a dip in the muddy water of the tree-lined canal is the only way for her to cool off with her kids.
“It is such a relief. How do I describe? It feels very good,” Bidi told VOA. “We were so hot, children were crying so we came to bathe in the canal,” she said, complaining of a lack of electricity and running water at home.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department, or PMD, has predicted heat wave conditions until May 27 in most of the country, with parts of Punjab and Sindh — the two most populous provinces — slated to experience extreme heat.
“May is usually a hot month. But this time we are expecting temperatures to hit 50 to 51 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in some parts,” Mahr Sahibzad Khan, director general of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, told VOA. “The sudden rise in temperatures has forced us to alert everyone.”
The PMD expects daytime temperatures to soar by 6 to 8 degrees Celsius above May’s average. Khan, however, told VOA he did not expect the severe heat to be deadly.
Still, authorities in Punjab closed schools for the week. Earlier, they reduced school timing and delayed board exams.
Provincial disaster management authorities in Punjab and Sindh have ordered hospitals to set up heat wave units to treat people for heat-related illnesses like dehydration and heatstroke.
In 2022 and 2018, unusually high temperatures between March and May killed dozens, mostly in Sindh. In 2015, more than a thousand people in the southern province perished due to heat-related illnesses.
The high temperatures not only affect lives, but livelihoods as well.
Rana Asif, a farmer with land in Okara, a city in Punjab, is watering his rice and corn crops more frequently this week to keep them from drying.
“We are forced to water our crops daily with cool, fresh water from the ground,” Rana, who usually waters his fields every other day, told VOA. “This is driving my cost up.”
Extreme heat in South Asia during the pre-monsoon season is becoming more frequent, according to the World Weather Attribution group of scientists. According to its research, climate change is making heat waves in Asia more frequent and extreme.
The latest spell of high heat, the second this month according to PMD, comes on the heels of the wettest April that Pakistan recorded in six decades. The above-average rainfall killed dozens and destroyed vast areas of farmland.
Khan, too, held climate change responsible for the extreme spikes in temperature.
“High pressure and clear skies intensify the impact of the sun’s rays. … because of climate change, this phenomenon feels more intense,” Khan said.
While Pakistan contributes extremely little to climate change, it is among countries most vulnerable to the impact of changing weather patterns. However, Khan also blamed Pakistan’s urban sprawl for the miserable weather.
“The bigger problem is that cities are expanding horizontally. This is leading to the erosion of green areas. Even grass has a role,” Khan said. “You are losing that [green cover] and cities are expanding. Of course, that is causing problems.”
Despite high heat accelerating glacial melt, Khan said his department is not expecting floods anytime soon.
“We don’t expect flooding as our reservoirs have plenty of room at the moment. Even if more water comes down we have space to store it,” Khan said, cautioning that “if the monsoon component is added to it and temperatures also run high then we can have flooding.”
In 2022, Pakistan suffered catastrophic flooding as unusually heavy rains, blamed largely on climate change, submerged nearly a third of the country and caused $30 billion in damage.
Authorities are urging people to stay indoors and hydrated during the hottest hours of the day this week. But Khursheeda Bibi, who commutes for nearly 1.5 hours every day to her job as a cleaning lady at a private hospital, said she must step out to earn a living for her children.
“It’s so difficult to travel,” Bibi, a widow, told VOA. “But when I think that I have to do it for my children, then the heat doesn’t feel so bad.”
The PMD expects the heat wave to subside by May 28. However, another spell of extreme heat is slated to hit early June.
