LAHORE: The impacts of climate change phenomenon in Pakistan have started appearing, as November 2024 has become the warmest-ever month with marked deviations ranging from 0.0°C to +5.2°C.
A report of Met office revealed that the national mean monthly temperature of 20.75°C for Pakistan was significantly warmer by +2.89°C than the country-average of 17.87°C and ranked as the highest mean temperature in November (previous record was 19.87°C in 2011) during the past 64 years.
The daytime (maximum) temperature at the country-level was 28.05°C, which was warmer by +2.13°C than the country-average of 25.92°C and stood as the 2nd warmest mean maximum temperature during the past 64 years (the record was 28.09°C in 2007).
The country-level nighttime (minimum) temperature of 13.40°C was warmer with even higher magnitude of +4.07°C than the countrywide average of 9.33°C and ranked as the highest mean minimum temperature during the past 64 years (the record was 12.22°C in 2011).
The hottest day of the month was observed at Turbat (Balochistan) on 3rd November when it recorded a maximum temperature of 41°C. Whereas the station, Mithi (Sindh) found to be the warmest place with a mean monthly maximum temperature of 35.5°C.
The coldest night temperature of -6.6°C of the month was recorded at Skardu (GB) on 28th. Coincidentally, the same station happened to be the coolest place with mean monthly minimum temperature of -0.9°C.
The national area-weighted rainfall, 5.6mm, of November 2024 was near average with a positive anomaly of +8%. The heaviest one-day rainfall of 54.3mm occurred in Khuzdar (Balochistan) on 30th November. Whereas, the station Dir (KP) has been the wettest place with monthly total of 110.0mm.
November is the month when dry continental winds predominantly blow across the country. The first week of the month remained under the dry continental air across the entire country followed by three westerly waves on 11-12, 15-16, 28-30 November which affected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Kashmir and North Balochistan producing some moderate to heavy rain in KP & Balochistan and light/moderate rains in Punjab, GB, and Kashmir.
On the other hand, central and south Punjab remained in grip of a severe smog/fog lowering air quality to dangerously worst levels during most of the month, the report said.
It added that climatologically, November was considered as the least rainy month with rainfall contribution to the national annual total and post-monsoon (OND) being only 1.7% and 19.5%, respectively.
During the month, Pakistan experienced about three rain spells of light to moderate intensity. November 2024 rainfall with 5.6mm was near average with a positive anomaly of (+8%) for Pakistan as a whole. However, a diverse situation was observed on regional scale i.e. Balochistan with 7.6mm (+193%) which was the only region having recorded excessively above daily average rainfall and ranked 8th wettest November (the record was 25.8mm in 2019).
The report maintained that November 2024 national mean temperature of 20.75°C was significantly warmer, +2.89°C, than the country-average of 17.87 °C and ranked as the highest mean temperature in the month (previous record was 19.87°C in 2011) during the past 64 years.
A similar trend prevailed at regional scale too i.e. for Balochistan with 21.63°C (+3.70°C), Sindh with 26.25°C (+3.54°C), KP with 17.05°C (+2.27°C) November ranked now the highest mean temperatures since 1961 (previous records were 20.27°C in 1999, 25.64°C in 2011 and 16.18 in 1977 respectively). For Punjab with 21.45°C (+1.96°C) it ranked the 2nd highest mean temperature (the record is 21.58° C in 2011). The regions AJ&K with 13.01°C (+1.41 °C) and GB with 9.39°C (+1.25°C) also observed 5th-6th highest mean temperatures in the month.
A persistent thick smog/fog over the central and south Punjab for about half a month brought the mean maximum temperature close to average. The mean temperature anomalies ranged from -1.8°C to +5.6°C in the country with those being considerably higher over western Balochistan.
The monthly mean minimum (night-time) temperature (13.40°C) has been warmer, by a significant magnitude of +4.07°C, than average (9.33°C) and now ranks as the highest mean minimum temperature of the month since 1961 (record was 12.22°C in 2011).
A very similar trend was found across all the regions: Sindh with 18.85°C (+4.97°C), Punjab with 14.98°C (+4.46°C), Balochistan with 13.60°C (+4.39°C) and KP with 10.11°C (+2.90°C) all experienced significantly warmer than average temperatures and also ranked as the highest mean minimum temperatures of the month during past 64 years (the records were 18.58°C in 2011, 14.23°C in 2011, 11.98°C in 1963 and 9.26°C in 1977 respectively).
AJ&K with 6.26°C (+1.73°C) and GB with 2.12 °C (+1.13°C) ranked as the 4th and 8th warmest mean minimum temperature respectively.
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