[2] In particular, compounded by the humidity and climate change, Jacobabad has several times exceeded a wet-bulb temperature of 35 °C (95 °F), above which the human body cannot sufficiently cool itself.

[4] The city is named after Brigadier-General John Jacob CB (1812–1858), an officer of the British East India Company who ruled this region during the last decade of his life.

According to travel writer Salman Rashid, it was local residents "who took to calling the new settlement ‘Jekumbad’", later renamed to Jacobabad by the British rulers.

Being an architect and an engineer himself, he designed and then executed the plans of laying a wide road network around the town that measured a good 600 miles (965 km).

In the 2022 South Asian heat wave, Jacobabad's mean temperature for the month of May broke the all-time record with 43 °C (109 °F), reaching or exceeding 50 °C (122 °F) on four days.

The Shahbaz Air Base (co-located with the commercial airport in Jacobabad) was one of three Pakistani air bases used by U.S. and allied forces to support the Operation Enduring Freedom campaign in Afghanistan and reportedly ongoing drone strikes in North Western Pakistan tribal regions.