December 2023 ranked 6th driest month in 63 years
Data collected from the Met office revealed that the national mean monthly temperature as a whole was 14.35°C
LAHORE:The climate change has disturbed the weather patterns of the country as December 2023 was ranked as the 6th warmest as well as driest December during the past 63 years.
Data collected from the Met office revealed that the national mean monthly temperature as a whole was 14.35°C, being 1.59°C warmer than the average (12.77°C) while the month witnessed excessively below average rainfall (-92%).
The wettest day of the month in the country was December 01 when Muzaffarabad Airport (AJK) recorded rainfall of 33.3 mm, making it the wettest place as well with the same amount of rainfall as monthly total. The national mean monthly temperature of December 2023 for Pakistan as a whole was 14.35°C, being 1.59°C warmer than the average (12.77°C) and ranks the month as the 6th warmest December.
The daytime (maximum) temperature at the country-level was 22.23°C, which was 1.97°C warmer than the country-wide average of 20.25°C and stood 7th warmest average maximum temperature for the month in past 63 years.
The nighttime (minimum) temperature at country level was 6.44°C, which was also 1.59°C warmer than the countrywide average of 4.85°C and ranks as the 8th warmest average minimum temperature for the month in the past 63 years, with the record being 7.22°C in 2016. The hottest day of the month was observed in Lasbela & Turbat (Balochistan) when they recorded a temperature of 33.5°C on December 12 and 27 respectively whereas Mithi has been found the warmest place with a mean monthly maximum temperature of 30.8°C.
The coldest temperature of the month, -9.7°C, was recorded in Skardu (GB) on December 26, 2023. Coincidentally, the same station was the coolest place with a mean monthly minimum temperature of -6.8°C. Coldest day was witnessed in Hunza with 4.0°C on December 24, coldest night with -9.7°C was witnessed at Skardu (GB) on December 26, warmest night with 17.5°C was witnessed at Thatta & Karachi Airport (Sindh) on the 3rd and Turbat (Balochistan) on the December 15, wettest day with 33.3 mm rainfall was observed at Muzaffarabad Airport (AJK) on December 1 and wettest month 33.3 mm at Muzaffarabad Airport (AJK).
Data from Met office revealed that climatologically, the December rainfall contribution to the national annual total and Post-monsoon (OND) was 4.5% and 50.3%, respectively as during the month, Pakistan experienced only 1-2 light rainfall spells.
December 2023 rainfall was excessively below average, with only 1.1mm (-92%), for Pakistan as a whole and stands the 6th driest December during past 63 years (driest ever being 0.0mm in 1999).
The situation was more or less similar on regional scale too as Sindh recorded no rain accept Jacobabad reported only traces, Punjab with only 0.2mm (-98%) observed the 9th driest December (driest ever being 0.0 mm in 3 different years), GB with only 0.3mm (-97%) observed the 4th driest December (driest ever was 0.0 mm in 1999), Balochistan with 0.8mm (-94%), KP with 4.1mm (-87%) and the AJK with 7.4mm (-82%), all exhibited excessively below average rainfall. The other mentionable rainfalls were recorded at Muzaffarabad city 32.5 mm, Balakot 24.0 mm, Murree 17.0 mm, Kalam 14.6 mm, Garhi Dupatta 13.0 mm, Saidu Sharif 12.6 mm, Dir 12.0 mm, Lower Dir 12.0 mm and Malam Jabba 12.0 mm.
Meanwhile, the city witnessed a cold and foggy day on Monday while the Met office warned that dense fog was likely to continue over the plain areas of Punjab, KP and upper Sindh during next two days.
Met officials said continental air was prevailing over most parts of the country and predicted that mainly cold and dry weather was expected in most plain areas of the country while very cold in northern parts. Monday’s lowest minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped down to -08°C while in Lahore it was 4.3°C and maximum was 13.3°C.
