Climate change: summer to come too soon

Less rain this winter to impact weather pattern in coming months.

ISLAMABAD: Less rain during winter this year is likely to lead to an abrupt and sharp increase in temperature, particularly in the Punjab, in the coming months.

“Temperature is likely to increase sharply in coming months particularly in the Punjab, due to hot and dry southern winds, with the winter season about to end,” the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Managing Director, Dr Ghulam Rasool, told The Express Tribune.

He said that due to the above normal temperatures wheat harvesting in lower Sindh—including Mirpurkhas, Thatta and Badin districts —had started almost two weeks earlier than normal.

“There is no chance of good [sic] rains in all parts of the country during the coming weeks except, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Malakand, and Hazara divisions and Kashmir, where rainfall is expected on Friday and Saturday,” Dr Rasool said.

He said that temperatures in south-western parts of the country had already started to rise as dusty winds had engulfed Karachi and adjoining areas due to which visibility had dropped to two kilometres only, and that weather condition might bring about throat and respiratory problems for a number of people.

The PMD forecast that during the past 45 days from January 2016 to February 15, 2016, the rainfall amounts exhibited significant deficit pattern over almost the entire country, as rainfall dropped by 59 per cent during the last one and a half month on the whole across the country.

In the past two weeks from February 1 to 15, rainfall has been generally 65 per cent below normal, the extreme northern and half of the southern part of the country did not receive any rainfall in the past two weeks, while considerably below normal rainfall was observed in other parts of the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th,  2016.