April wettest month since 1961

LAHORE:April 2024 has witnessed 59.30 mm of rainfall, which was excessively above average (+164%) and stood as record wettest April since 1961 (previous record being 55.8 mm in 1983).

Environmental experts believed that the change in weather patterns were the result of climate change phenomenon and so far the country was not ready to face the impact. They said the changes in weather patterns were very harmful for country’s agriculture and unusual events of rain and hailstorm caused destruction and loss to the farmers and fruit growers across the country.

As per the data collected from Met office, record-breaking rainfall has occurred in some regions too during the month. The heaviest one-day rainfall of 91.0 mm occurred at Dir (KP) on 14th and Malam-Jabba on 20th of the month. Whereas Malam Jabba (KP) was the wettest place with 520.0 mm monthly total rainfall. The national mean monthly temperature of 23.67°C for Pakistan (with -0.87°C anomaly) was lower than country average of 24.54°C. The daytime (maximum) temperature at the country-level was 30.59°C (with -1.14°C anomaly) was also lower than the country average of 31.74°C.

Data revealed that the nighttime (minimum) temperature at country level was 16.70°C (with -0.10°C anomaly) was near to the countrywide average of 16.80°C. The hottest day of the month was observed at Shaheed Benazirabad (Sindh) when it recorded a maximum temperature of 43.5°C on April 8. The same place found to be the warmest place with a mean monthly maximum temperature of 39.4°C while the coldest night temperature (-4.0°C) of the month was recorded at Kalam (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, KP) on April 4, 2024, which too happened to be the coolest place with mean monthly minimum temperature of 0.4°C. The data of Met office further revealed that the unusual western disturbances (WDs) were the most dominant features of the month, which entered through western & northern parts and spread over upper & central parts of the Country. Three back-to-back westerly waves entered the country and gripped KP, Gilgit Baltistan (GB), Kashmir, Punjab, Balochistan and parts of Sindh. Resultantly, widespread dust-thunderstorm/rain of moderate to heavy with few very heavy falls accompanied with hailstorm and snowfall over hills occurred in KP, GB, Kashmir, Punjab, Balochistan and few places in Sindh. These systems triggered flash floods in Balochistan & upper KP associated with riverine flood in Kabul River. Rest of the days remained under continental air over most parts of the country, the data added.

Situation was similar on regional scale too, i.e. Balochistan with 58.1mm (+437%) and KP with 174.9mm (+137%) recorded excessively above-average rainfall and ranked ever wettest April (previous record being 36.4mm and 158.6mm in 1965 respectively). The AJK witnessed 168.9mm (+102%) rainfall which too was excessively above average rainfall and ranked 2nd wettest April (the record being 171.0mm in 1965) and Punjab with 35.5 mm (+73%) also recorded excessively above average rainfall, GB with 36.8mm (+13%) was the only region to have experienced a slightly above average rainfall. Data showed that the April 2024 national mean temperature of 23.67°C for Pakistan was -0.87°C cooler than the country-average of 24.54°C. The situation was more or less similar in the regions too as Balochistan witnessed 23.00°C (-1.7°C), KP with 18.86°C (-1.20°C), Punjab with 25.16°C (-0.52°C) and AJK with 16.34°C (-0.43°C) all exhibited cooler than average temperatures, Sindh with 30.03°C (+0.40°C) and GB with 14.95°C (+0.12°C) were the regions to have observed slightly warmer than average temperature. The mean temperature anomalies of April 2024 were in range -3.8 to 2°C in the country. April 2024 mean-maximum (daytime) temperature of 30.59°C recorded at country-level with a negative anomaly of -1.14°C than the country average of 31.74°C.