LAHORE: The month of May has stood as the second driest May since 1961 with national area-weighted rainfall of 5.0 mm, which was excessively below average (-66%), said Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD). It said the driest ever 3.6 mm was recorded back in 1988.

According to the report, the regions in all too have recorded excessively below average rainfall.

The heaviest one-day rainfall of 56.0 mm occurred at Kakul (KP) on 13th and coincidently, the same station also has been the wettest place with monthly total rainfall of 63.0mm.

Meanwhile, the national mean monthly temperature stood at 30.44 °C for Pakistan (with +1.50 °C anomaly) was warmer than country-average of 28.94 °C.

So, far as the daytime (maximum) temperature at the country-level is concerned, it was 38.33 °C (with +2.07°C anomaly) and was also significantly warmer than the country average of 36.26 °C. The night time (minimum) temperature at country level, on the other hand, was 22.49 °C (with +1.37°C anomaly) was also warmer than the countrywide average of 21.12 °C.

The hottest day during the month of May was observed at Mohenjo-Daro (Sindh) when it recorded a maximum temperature of 52.5 °C on 26th May whereas Jacobabad (Sindh) found to be the warmest place with a mean monthly maximum temperature of 46.7 °C. The coldest night temperature (-1.5°C) of the month was recorded at Kalam (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, KP) on 1st May 2024, which too happened to be the coolest place with mean monthly minimum temperature of 6.8 °C.

It may be noted that the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) turned into a neutral phase (neither La Niña nor El Niño) with sea surface temperatures (SSTs) being around -0.1°C over the central equatorial Pacific.

International models forecast further cooling of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific in the months ahead. The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) has turned into positive phase.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024