LAHORE: As a result of the climate change phenomenon, the country witnessed 30 percent less rainfall during September 2024 and 1.26 degrees centigrade rise in the average monthly temperature was reported.
Data collected from the Met office revealed that during the last month the national mean monthly temperature of 29.25°C was warmer by 1.26°C than the country-average of 27.98°C and stood 4th highest in September during the past 64 years.
The maximum temperature at country level was warmer by 0.93°C and stood 8th warmest mean maximum temperature during past 64 years while the country level nighttime (minimum) temperature was warmer by 1.99°C and stood 4th warmest mean minimum temperature during past 64 years.
Met office data showed that similar trend prevailed at regional scale as Punjab with 31.48°C (1.47°C) stood as the 3rd highest mean temperature, AJ&K with 24.18°C (+1.74°C) and KP with 27.27°C (+1.46°C) both ranked as 4th highest mean temperature. The Balochistan with 29.15°C (+1.24) and Sindh with 31.47°C (+1.02) both observed 7th highest mean temperature.
The monthly mean maximum (daytime) temperature of 34.45°C at country level was also positively anomalous (+0.93°C) than the country average of 35.52°C and ranked as the 8th highest of the month. The AJ&K with 30.66 °C (+1.87°C) and KP with 33.71°C (+1.25°C) both recorded the 4th highest of the month. The other regions too observed the positive anomaly.
The Mean maximum temperature anomalies were ranged from -1.5 to +3.4 °C in the country with those being considerably higher over GB & adjoining AJ&K and western Balochistan. The night time (minimum) temperature of 23.01°C (with +1.99°C anomaly) was too warmer than average of 21.02°C during the month of September-2024 and ranked 4th highest mean minimum temperature of the month.
A similar trend was found across all the regions as for Punjab with 26.24°C (+2.73 °C) it ranked 2nd warmest, Sindh with 26.45°C (+1.97 °C) and KP with 20.80°C (+1.63°C ) both ranked 4th warmest, AJ&K with 17.63°C (+1.57 °C) ranked 5th warmest and Balochistan with 22.23°C (+2.09°C) ranked 6th warmest.
Data further revealed that the hottest day of the month was observed at Turbat (Balochistan) on 10th & 11th September when it recorded a maximum temperature of 44.5°C whereas the stations Nokkundi and Sibi found to be the warmest places with a mean monthly maximum temperature of 40.3°C.
Similarly, the coldest night temperature of 7.3°C of the month was recorded at Skardu (GB) on 30th. Coincidentally, the same station happened to be the coolest place with mean monthly minimum temperature of 11.1°C.
Climatologically, September 2024 was considered as an average rainy month of the year with rainfall contribution to the annual national total and monsoon (JAS) being 7.2% and 15.2%, respectively. During the month, Pakistan experienced four/five moderate/heavy rain spells. September 2024 rainfall with 15 mm was well below average ( 30%) for Pakistan as a whole.
The situation was similar on regional scale too i.e. the GB with 4.2mm ( 56%) recorded excessively below average rainfall whereas, Sindh with 10.6mm ( 47%), KP with 26.3mm ( 43%) experienced the 8th driest September, AJ&K with 41.4mm ( 36%), Balochistan with 4.4mm ( 29%) and Punjab with 30.9mm ( 11%) all exhibited below average rainfall.
The wettest day of the month in the country was 27th September when 110.0mm rainfall was recorded at Chaklala Airbase (Punjab). Whereas Islamabad (Zero Point) found being the wettest place with a monthly total rainfall of 191.0 mm
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the provincial capital witnessed dry, humid and partly cloudy weather while Met office predicted similar weather conditions for the next 24 hours. Met officials said continental air was prevailing over most parts of the country. They predicted that mainly hot and dry weather was expected in most parts of the country. However, light rain/thunderstorm was likely at isolated places in Gilgit-Baltistan and upper Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa during evening/night. Thursday’s highest maximum temperature was recorded at Dadu where mercury reached 45°C while in Lahore it was 37°C and minimum was 25°C.