April 2025 ranked 2nd warmest in 65 years

LAHORE: April 2025 was ranked 2nd warmest in the past 65 years as the national mean temperature was significantly warmer than the country’s average by +3.37°C.

A report released by the MET office said the national mean temperature recorded in April 2025 was 27.91°C while the country-average temperature was 24.54°C. The daytime (maximum) temperature of 36.40°C at country-level happened to be significantly warmer by +4.66°C than the country-average of 31.74°C and ranked 2nd highest in the past 65 years while the country-level nighttime (minimum) temperature of 19.36°C too was significantly warmer by +2.57°C than the countrywide average of 16.80°C and ranked the 3rd highest in the past 65 years.

The report said a similar situation prevailed on regional scale i.e. Balochistan with 28.34°C (+3.63 °C) ranked the highest mean temperature of the month during the past 65 years (the record was 28.06 °C in 2022), Sindh with 32.75 °C (+3.12 °C) & Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 23.76°C (+3.70 °C) ranked the 2nd highest (record being 32.88°C & 25.04°C recorded in 2022 respectively), Punjab with 30.18°C (+3.50 °C) & AJK with 19.66°C (+2.89 °C) ranked the 3rd highest (records being 31.27°C & 20.99°C in 2022 respectively) and the Gilgit-Baltistan with 16.33°C (+1.50°C) recorded significantly warmer than average temperatures.

The MET office report said the hottest day of the month was observed at Shaheed Benazirabad (Sindh) on 17th when it recorded a maximum temperature of 49°C whereas the same station proved to be the warmest place with a mean monthly maximum temperature of 44.7°C. The coldest night temperature of 0.0°C of the month was recorded at Gupis (Gilgit-Baltistan) on 1st & 2nd April, whereas the station Astore (Gilgit-Baltistan) happened to be the coldest place with mean monthly minimum temperature of 5.0°C.

The MET office report maintained that the national area-weighted rainfall of 9.2mm was largely below average with a negative anomaly of -59% in April 2025 and ranked 7th driest April in the past 65 years. The heaviest one-day rainfall of 62.8mm occurred at Skardu (Gilgit-Baltistan) on April 20, whereas the station Dir (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) has been the wettest place with monthly total of 99.0 mm. The report concluded that climatologically, April was considered an average rainy month with rainfall contribution to the national annual total and season Apr-Jun (AMJ) being 7.6% and 40.2%, respectively. During the month, Pakistan experienced some moderate to heavy rainfall accompanied by few hailstorms in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir and some light intensity rain/drizzle in Northwest/Northeast Balochistan.