KARACHI: The mercury soared to 45 degrees Celsius at 1:00pm making Wednesday the hottest day of the year 2018 after a fresh heatwave hit the city due to the formation of low pressure areas in the Arabian Sea.

The Pakistan Met Department (PMD) officials have a day earlier warned that the next two days would be very hot and dry with the temperatures ranging between 42 and 44 degrees Celsius.

Officials said Pakistan was in the grip of an intense heat due to a large high pressure area over most parts of the country, saying the intense heat was concentrated on the plains of Sindh and Balochistan where the temperature could soar to 48 degrees Celsius during next six to seven days.

However, interestingly it is not the hottest day in the history of Karachi as the city had been hit by the highest ever temperature at 47.8 Celsius 80 years ago on May 09, 1938.

But four years before the hottest day in the history, Karachi’s mercury dived to record low at 0.0 Celsius.

Also, in June 2015, the temperature was recorded at 44.8 Celsius during which over 1200 people were killed.

On 1 July 1977 heavy Rains and flooding in Karachi, killed 248 people, according to Pakistan meteorological department 207 millimetres (8.1 in) of Rain fell in 24 hours.