By:Mustafa Husnain

§ These are the cyclones which

originate in the Mediterranean
sea and travel across
Afghanistan and reaches the
western areas of Pakistan
§ After striking north-western
areas of Pakistan it moves
towards western and south-
western parts of pakistan
§ These winds cause the rainfall in
month of December to March in
areas like Quetta
§ In summers hot air rises up which also
contains a high moisture content.When
it reaches the higher layers of
atmosphere condensation takes place
§ This causes rainfall and even
thunderstorms
§ Northern and north-western areas of
Pakistan receive rainfall from
conventional currents
§ Southern part of pakistan is deprived of
convectional rainfall due to
temperature inversion layer
§ Relief rainfall is related to the
height of land
§ It occurs where moist unstable
air moves up a mountain and it is
chilled , this causes heavy
condensation and precipitation
on the windward side
§ Murree and kakul receive rainfall
in almost all seasons due to high
altitude and other sources
mentioned
§ Tropical cyclones may bring a
few hours of very heavy rainfall
with destructive winds to the
coastal areas
§ They originate over the Arabian
Sea quite often but only rarely do
they reach the coast of Pakistan,
usually once every few years
§ This source of rainfall is totally
unreliable both in terms of when
and where on the coast it will
occur
§ During the summers the temperature in central Pakistan is high which
causes hot air to rise up and to form a low pressure zone
§ At the same time oceans and seas have comparatively low temperature

§ The air pressure over the oceans is higher than over land during summers

§ This leads to the movements of monsoon winds from sea to land which are
moisture laden and bring heavy rainfall to upper and lower indus plains in
July and August
§ During winters the whole situation is reversed. The summer monsoon
gradually retreat in autumn
§ The winds are called the winter monsoon or the north east monsoon
§ The rainfall in Pakistan is mainly from monsoon winds and western
depression
§ The effectiveness of monsoon rainfall is of limited value to agriculture
§ High temperature leads to evapotranspiration in June till September
§ The monsoon winds are variable in amount, timings and distribution
§ Monsoon rainfall comes in heavy showers which is not useful for crops
because land doesn’t absorb rain water
§ Crop planning is difficult if the amount and timings of rainfall have above
normal fluctuations
§ Winter rainfall is more effective for farmers because it comes in light
showers and continue for several days
§ However the amount of rainfall is not sufficient and cant be relied upon

§ It only occurs in western and northern region

§ Coastal and southern Pakistan have to depend upon monsoon rainfall

§ Generally the rainfall in pakistan is neither dependable nor enough in

quantity
§ As a result farming depends on irrigation system