LAHORE: National rainfall for August 2022 was 243% above average breaking the record of the wettest August since 1961. The rainstorm of the eighth month of the calendar exceeded the total recorded monsoon rainfall by 37%, the met office confirmed.
At a regional scale, Balochistan saw 590% above average rainfall and Sindh 726% in August than ever recorded before for that month. Both these provinces ranked first in experiencing the wettest ever August while with 233% more than average rainfall Gilgit-Baltistan ranked second wettest August in the past 62 years. The met office data further says the monthly rainfall in Punjab was recorded at 58% above average, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by 52%. The rainstorm seemed to have spared Azad Jammu & Kashmir which received three per cent below average normal rainfall. The torrential rain caused massive devastating flash floods in Balochistan, Sindh, southwest Punjab and KP inflicting over 1,100 deaths and unbearable huge loss of crops and properties.
The wettest day of the month was 19th August, when Padidan (Sindh) recorded 355 mm rainfall, which also proved to be the wettest place with the highest monthly total of 1228.5 mm and now stands as the heaviest rainfall in a single day.
August continued to break several other records. The number of rainy days was considerably higher than everbefore, especially in Sindh and Balochistan. The heavy rains contributed to the ever-recorded August rainfall total at both monthly (21 locations) and daily (13 locations) and for some sites in over a hundred years.
The national mean monthly temperature of August 2022 across Pakistan was 28.66 °C, which was 1.48°C cooler than the monthly average of 30.14 °C. The data reveals that the daytime (maximum) temperature across the country was 33.53 °C, which was 2.4 °C cooler than the average 35.93 °C while the night time (minimum) temperature was 23.82 °C, being 0.50 °C cooler than the country’s average of 24.32 °C.
The hottest day of the month was recorded at Nokkundi (Balochistan) which sizzled at 45.5 °C temperature on 9th August 2022, while the coldest temperature of 6.2 °C was recorded at Kalam (KP) on 30th August 2022. Similarly, the coldest day temperature of 14.5 °C was experienced at Bagrote (GB) on the 27th of August and in Hunza (GB) on the 26th of August. Multan experienced the warmest night at 32.0 °C on the 11th of August and again in Sibbi (Balochistan) on the 9th August.
About four widespread rainy spells were experienced during the last month. The incessant intense rains across large swaths of Sindh and Balochistan during 11-27 August proved to be one of the most significant on record, the met office said. In climatic terms August which is normally a ‘fairly wet’ month saw 243% above average rainfall. August became the ‘extremely excessive rainy’ month with 192.7mm (area-weighted) rain against its normal 56.2 mm. This made it the record wettest August since 1961.
The other significant monthly-total rains recorded at Moen Jo Daro 779.5mm, Larkana 738.3mm, Sakrand 617mm, Khairpur 606.3mm, Tando Jam 598.0mm, Chhor 503.9mm, Jacobabad 493mm, Sh.Benazirabad 488.2mm, Rohri 371.4mm, Murree 402.5mm, Sukkur 379.0mm, Dir 361mm, Kalat 361mm, Dadu 337mm, Barkhan 312mm, Badin 307.5mm, MirpurKhas 304mm, Kakul 297mm, Muzaffarabad Airport 289.3mm, Bhakkar 284.2mm, Garhi Dupatta 278.3mm, Lower Dir 278mm, Mithi 275mm, Muzaffarabad City 272.9mm, Kalam 268.1mm and Malamjabba 256mm. The Jiwani and Nokkundi were the only two stations which remained dry with no rain at all during the last month.