Climate of Pakistan

Pakistan lies in the temperate zone. The climate is generally arid, characterized by hot summers and cool or cold winters, and there are wide variations between extremes of temperature. The upper parts of Pakistan sometimes get rain from the Western Disturbance almost every month and from June till September almost whole country is lashed by South West Monsoon rain.

Provinces & territories of Pakistan

Islamabad

The climate in the capital city of Islamabad varies from an average daily low of 2 °C (35.6 °F) in January to an average daily high of 40 °C (104 °F) in June. Half of the annual rainfall occurs in July and August, averaging about 255 millimetres (10.04 in) in each of those two months. The remainder of the year has significantly less rain, amounting to about 50 millimetres (1.97 in) per month. Hailstorms are common in the spring. (see Climate of Islamabad).

Punjab

There are two areas of Punjab in pakistan, which are southern punjab and north punjab. Both these areas have their own weather pattern like north punjab is more wet and south punjab is little drier than north punjab. Most areas in Punjab experience fairly cool winters, often accompanied by Western Disturbance rain. Woolen shawls are worn by women and men for warmth because few homes are heated. By mid-February the temperature begins to rise; springtime weather continues until mid-April, when the summer heat sets in. The onset of the southwest monsoon is anticipated to reach Punjab by june, but since the early 1970s the weather pattern has been irregular but monsoon reaches Punjab in the second week of july. The spring monsoon has either skipped over the area or has caused it to rain so hard that floods have resulted. June and July are oppressively hot.

Sindh

Sindh is divided into three climatic regions: Siro (the upper region, centred on Jacobabad), Wicholo (the middle region, centred on Hyderabad), and Lar (the lower region, centred on Karachi). Sindh is situated in a subtropical region; it is very hot in the summer and mild cold in winter. Temperatures frequently rise above 46 °C (115 °F) between May and August, and the minimum average temperature of 2 °C (36 °F) occurs during December and January. The annual rainfall averages about seven inches, falling mainly during July and August. The southwesterly monsoon wind begins to blow in mid-June and continues until the end of September, whereas the cool northerly wind blows during the winter months from October to January. The highest temperature ever recorded in Pakistan was also recorded in Sindh, atleast 57°C was recorded in Jacobabad, Pakistan in 2005.

Karachi

The Northern Areas are very cold throughout the year, and the Karakoram mountain range has large glaciers, sometimes referred to as the third pole of the world. These areas are only accessible in the summer months to world-class climbers. There is little rainfall in the southern parts of the country, including Balochistan and Sindh. However, there is a high amount of rainfall in the upper plains, upper North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), and Azad Kashmir, ranging from 1,800 to 2,000 mm (70.9 to 78.7 in) per year. Occasionally, lower Sindh and parts of Balochistan receive heavy to very heavy rainfall during the monsoon season. In the Khuzdar District of Balochistan, there is a small area that receives rainfall nearly every day during monsoon season; the yearly rainfall there ranges from 500 to 600 mm (19.7 to 23.6 in) per year. Karachi and Hyderabad also receive their share of rainfall during monsoon season. On July 19, 2009, the Karachi metropolitan area received 205 mm (8.07 in) of rain in a single day. Winter rainfall and snowfall is high in Gilgit-Baltistan and the NWFP mountains. The Pothohar Plateau also receives a good deal of rainfall during the winter season. The capital city, Islamabad, is in the range of both summer and winter rainfall, so average rainfall is quite high as compared to the plains in the south.

Seasonal

Pakistan has a cool, dry winter starting from December but it get wets during January and February specially in western parts of the country ; a hot, dry season from March through May with occasional rains due to local cloud bursts; the summer rainy season, or southwest monsoon period, from June through September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November. The onset and duration of these seasons vary somewhat according to location. It is also said that Pakistan has three seasons: winter (November to March) is warm and cooled by sea breezes on the coast; summer (April to July) has extreme temperatures and the monsoon season (rain season) (July to September) has the highest rainfall on the hills and the extreme lower and upper parts of the country.

Regions

Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, which is also the country's industrial center, is more humid than Islamabad but gets less rain. Only July and August average more than 25 millimetres (0.98 in) of rain in the Karachi area; the remaining months are exceedingly dry. The temperature is also more uniform in Karachi than in Islamabad, ranging from an average daily low of 13 °C (55.4 °F) during winter evenings to an average daily high of 34 °C (93.2 °F) on summer days. Although the summer temperatures do not get as high as those in Punjab, the high humidity causes the residents a great deal of discomfort.

. Although official estimates rarely place the temperature above 46 °C (114.8 °F), newspaper sources claim that it reaches 51 °C (123.8 °F) and regularly carry reports about people who have succumbed to the heat-stroke. In August the oppressive heat is punctuated by the rainy season, referred to as barsat, which brings relief in its wake. The hardest part of the summer is then over, but cooler weather does not come until late October. However Pakistan has recorded one of the highest temperatures in the world, the hottest of which, was 52.6 °C (126.7 °F) recorded in Sibi in 2004 and the coldest was Astore recording −26 °C (−15 °F). As Pakistan is located on a great landmass north of the tropic of Cancer (between latitudes 24° and 37° N), it has a continental type of climate characterized by extreme variations of temperature, both seasonally and daily. Very high altitudes modify the climate in the cold, snow-covered northern mountains; temperatures on the Balochistan Plateau are somewhat higher. Along the coastal strip, the climate is modified by sea breezes. In the rest of the country, temperatures reach great heights in the summer; the mean temperature during June is 100° F (38° C) in the plains, where the highest temperatures can exceed 117° F (47° C). In the summer, hot winds called loo blow across the plains during the day. Trees shed their leaves to avoid loss of moisture. The dry, hot weather is broken occasionally by dust storms and thunderstorms that temporarily lower the temperature. Evenings are cool; the diurnal variation in temperature may be as much as 20° to 30° F (11° to 17° C). Winters are cold, with minimum mean temperatures of about 40° F (4° C) in January.

The controlling factors of the climate are:

1. The sub-Tropical location of Pakistan that tends to keep the temperature high, particularly in summer.

2. The oceanic influence of the Arabian Sea that keeps down the temperature contrast between summer and winter at the coast.

3. Higher altitudes in the west and north that keep the temperature down throughout the year.

4. The Monsoon winds that bring rainfall in summer.

5. The Western Depression originating from the Mediterranean region and entering Pakistan from the west that brings rainfall in winter. These cyclones make a long land journey and are thus robbed of most of the moisture by the time they reach Pakistan.

6. A temperature inversion layer at a low elevation of about 1,500 m in the south during the summer that does not allow the moisture-laden air to rise and condensation to take place.

Pakistan can be divided into four broad temperature regions:

1. Hot summer and mild winter: 32o C or more in summer and 10 to 21o C in winter.

2. Warm summer and mild winter: 21 - 32oC in summer and 10 to 21oC in winter.

3. Warm summer and cool winter: 21 - 32oC in summer and 0 - 10oC in winter.

4. Mild summer and cool/cold winter: Summer temperature between 10 and 21oC and winter temperature between 0 and 10oC.

See also

• Climate