Overview
- PMD data show Feb 1–22 daytime temperatures running 3–5°C above normal and nighttime readings 1–3.5°C above the 1981–2010 average across Gilgit-Baltistan.
- Recorded anomalies include a 4.7°C daytime increase in Gilgit, with minimum temperatures up 3.4°C in Chilas, curbing overnight refreezing.
- Reduced nighttime cooling is accelerating snow and glacier melt at mid to lower elevations, increasing inflows to moraine- and ice-dammed lakes.
- Below-normal rainfall and snowfall, reinforced by persistent clear-sky conditions, have set up unusually stable and warm winter weather.
- The PMD’s Feb–Apr outlook flags a high likelihood of continued warmth, naming Gilgit, Ghizar, Hunza, Bunji, Chilas and Astore as priority risk areas, and it will issue advisories as conditions evolve.