Met office detects strong weather system developing southwest of Karachi

Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Thursday issued a warning that there is a strong weather system potentially forming over the southwest Arabian Sea.

An alert issued by the PMD’s Cyclone Warning Centre, on its website, said: "A well-marked low-pressure area (LPA) (strong weather system) lies over the southwest Arabian Sea at around latitude 9.5 N and longitude 61.5 E, at a distance of about 1810km southwest of Karachi and 1750km south of Gwadar."

It further added that due to favourable environmental conditions, the system is likely to intensify further into a depression.

A depression is a low-pressure system which occurs when the weather is dominated by unstable conditions.

Under a depression, air rises, forming an area of low pressure at the surface. This rising air cools and condenses and helps encourage cloud formation, so the weather is often cloudy and wet.

Furthermore, the strong weather system, detected in the Arabian Sea is likely to move further in the west/northwest direction towards the Oman-Yemen coast, according to PMD.

However, the weather department has also notified that "none of the Pakistan coastal areas are likely to be impacted by the system."

Dry weather is expected to prevail in most parts of the country, while cold weather and light rain with thunderstorms are expected in northern parts of the country, over the weekend.