LAHORE: Pakistan witnessed around 11 percent increase in rains during August 2025, while Gilgit-Baltistan witnessed 44 percent increase during the year, says a report released by the MET office.
The country is already witnessing worst flooding, with experts terming climate change the main cause behind the extraordinary rainfalls while India has also released water in River Ravi, River Chenab and River Sutlej.
The report revealed that climatologically, August was considered as a good rainy month with rainfall contribution to the national annual total and seasonal July-Sept being 18.9% and 39.9%, respectively.
During the month, Pakistan experienced few widespread heavy to very heavy rainfall/Thundershower spells in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, AJK, Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh. As a whole, Pakistan witnessed +11% rainfall whereas a diverse situation was observed on regional scale. i.e, Gilgit-Baltistan (+44%), Balochistan (+24%), AJK and Punjab (+11% each), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (+7%) and Sindh (+1%).
The heaviest one-day rainfall of 363.5 mm occurred in Sialkot (Punjab) on 27th August. The same station was the wettest place with monthly total rainfall of 730.8 mm. Some other stations also recorded notable rainfalls including Gujrat 426.4 mm, Narowal 361.5 mm, Kakul 361.0 mm, Malam Jabba 327.0 mm, Rawalakot 323.4 mm, Muzaffarabad Airport 280.6 mm, Jhelum 280.3 mm, Lahore Airport 275.2 mm, Murree 274.0 mm, Kotli 274.0 mm, Muzaffarabad City 273.0 mm, Mangla 272.7 mm, Islamabad Airport 270.9 mm, Lahore City 253.1 mm, Garhi Dupatta 243.0 mm, Tando Jam 235.0 mm, Gujranwala 230.7 mm, Hafizabad 226.0 mm, Chaklala Airbase 216.5 mm, Mandibahauddin 210.0 mm, Karachi A/P 205.1 mm, Cherat 202.3 mm, Balakot 202.0 mm, Faisal Base 201.0 mm, Islamabad Zeropoint 195.2 mm, Chakwal 182.0 mm, Kamra Airbase 181.0 mm , Sheikhupura 180.7 mm and Parachinar 177.0 mm. On the other hand, only few stations remained absolutely dry with no rain during the month, i.e. Dalbandin, Gwadar, Jiwani, Nokkundi and Panjgur.
The report said the national mean temperature of 30.64°C was slightly warmer than the country-average of 30.25°C with an anomaly of +0.4°C. The daytime (maximum) temperature of 36.17°C at country-level was near to average with a slight positive anomaly of +0.3°C.
The country-level nighttime (minimum) temperature of 25.08°C was too warmer by +0.8°C than the countrywide average of 24.31°C and ranked 4th highest in the past 65 years.
The hottest day of the month was observed in Dalbandin (Balochistan) on 6th when it recorded a maximum temperature of 45.0 °C. The same station proved to be the warmest place with a mean monthly maximum temperature of 43.1 °C.
The coldest night temperature of 9.5°C of the month was recorded at Bagrote (Gilgit-Baltistan) on 14th August, whereas the Malam Jabba station (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) happened to be the coldest place with mean monthly minimum temperature of 14.8°C.
The report explained that country-level monthly mean maximum (daytime) temperature of 36.17°C was near average with slight positive anomaly of +0.3°C. However, a diverse trend was observed at regional scale; for Balochistan 37.60°C (+0.6°C), Sindh with 36.53 °C (+0.6°C), Gilgit-Baltistan with 33.73 °C (+0.6°C), AJK with 31.19°C (+0.6°C) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 34.16°C (+0.3°C) all recorded above-average maximum temperatures. On the other hand, Punjab with 35.77°C (-0.9°C) was the only region to have observed cooler-than-average temperature.
The mean maximum temperature anomalies remained in the range from -2.1°C to +2.2°C in the country with those being considerably higher over western Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Eastern Sindh.
The report added that country’s monthly mean minimum (night-time) temperature of 25.08°C was also slightly warmer by +0.8°C than the mean 24.31°C and ranked as the 4th highest during the past 65 years (the record is 25.73°C in 1970). A similar trend was found across the regions i.e. for Sindh 27.27°C (+1.0°C) ranked as the 3rd highest (the record is 28.13°C in 2020 ), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 23.32°C (+0.8°C) ranked 4th highest ( the record being 23.87°C in 1970), AJK with 20.32°C (+0.8°C) ranked as the 7th highest in the past 65 years (record is 20.78°C in 1994), Balochistan with 24.92°C (+0.8°C) ranked 9th highest (record is 26.15°C in 1970), Punjab with 27.05°C (+0.7°C) and Gilgit-Baltistan with 18.85°C (+0.1°C) all recorded warmer than average minimum temperatures. The mean minimum temperature anomalies ranged from -2.6°C to +4.4°C in the country with those being considerably higher over Western Balochistan.
The lowest night (minimum) temperature of the month was 9.5°C recorded at Bagrote (Gilgit-Baltistan) on 14th August. Whereas the Weather observing station Malam Jabba (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) happened to be the coldest place with mean monthly minimum temperature of 14.8°C.
Environmental experts suggested that massive national level tree plantation especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan should be started without any political differences. They said a complete ban should also be imposed on cutting of trees in hilly and mountainous regions.
