Climate of Pakistan

Very high altitudes modify the climate in the cold, snow-covered northern mountains; temperatures on the Balochistan plateau are somewhat higher.

[1] The dry, hot weather is broken occasionally by dust storms and thunderstorms that temporarily lower the temperature.

Summers are sweltering, boiling and extremely hot in central Balochistan, southern Punjab and Upper Sindh while it gets milder the more you go to the north and the coast.

The monsoon and the Western Disturbance are the two main factors which alter the weather over Pakistan; Continental air prevails for the rest of the year.

Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, which is also the country's industrial center, is more humid than Islamabad but gets less rain, but still possesses a tropical climate.

Only July, August and September average more than 75 millimeters of rain in the Karachi area; the remaining months are rather dry.

Each year before the onset of monsoon that is 15 April to 15 July and also after its withdrawal that is 15 September to 15 December, there is always a distinct possibility of the cyclonic storm to develop in the north Arabian Sea.

Cyclones form in the Arabian sea often results in strong winds and heavy rainfall in Pakistan's coastal areas.

However tornadoes mostly occur during spring season that is March and April usually when a Western Disturbance starts effecting the northern parts of the country.

Already, the massive droughts of 1998-2002 has stretched the coping abilities of the existing systems to the limit and it has barely been able to check the situation from becoming a catastrophe.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and North eastern Punjab were badly affected during the monsoon rains when dams, rivers and lakes overflowed.

[14] Sindh is a fertile region and often called the "breadbasket" of the country; the damage and toll of the floods on the local agrarian economy is said to be extensive.

[15] In 2022, floods caused by monsoon rains and melting glaciers in Pakistan particularly in the southern regions of Sindh and Balochistan had killed at least 1,128 people, including 340 children and six military officers in a helicopter crash, with over 1,700 more injured.

[19] In addition to increased heat, drought and extreme weather in parts of the country, the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas has impacted some of the important rivers of Pakistan.