RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) stated that the country received 34 per cent less rainfall in December last year.

According to data shared by the PMD, Pakistan received 10.3 millimetres of rain in December 2025, which was 34 per cent lower than the 15.8mm of rain the winter month normally experiences.

Azad Jammu Kashmir recorded 28.2mm, Balochistan 11.8mm, Gilgit-Baltistan 8.1mm, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 15.5mm, Punjab 3.7mm, and Sindh 7.9mm. The mean temperature across the country was recorded at 13.8 Celsius.

It was 11.6 Celsius in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 15 Celsius in Balochistan, 5.9 Celsius in Gilgit-Baltistan, 11.5 Celsius in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 14.4 Celsius in Punjab and 18.5 Celsius in Sindh.

On Monday, a PMD official said prolonged dry and chilly conditions, along with dense fog in some areas, will prevail until February without any predictions of rain or snowfall.

No extreme cold

The PMD statement also refuted earlier reports of an ‘extreme cold winter’ in the country, saying that meteorological data rejected the misleading claim. It said unverified claims had circulated in social and print media regarding the likelihood of an extremely cold winter in Pakistan. At the time, the Met office had also rejected this claim.

According to the statement, such claims were not supported by the Pakistan Meteorological Department’s Seasonal Winter Forecast (December–February) or by prevailing regional and global climate indicators.

It said the observed conditions during December were consistent with PMD’s seasonal outlook for December-February 2025–26.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2026