The climate of Kech, elevated at 100-1400 meters above sea level, is dry arid hot. It is placed in "hot summer and mild winter" temperature region. Summer is not only hot but also long. It continues from March through November (9 months) while winter starts in December and continues till February (3 months). June is the hottest month and January the coldest. Mean monthly temperature in the hottest month remains above 32° C. The highest ever recorded temperature at Turbat is 44.8° C in 1982. In the coldest month, January, the mean monthly temperature remains between 10° C to 21° C. Sometimes it drops below 10° C but it does not reach 0° C. In winter a cold wind, locally called goorich, blows, which takes the temperature feel like below freezing point.

Aridity is severe in the district because average annual rainfall is below 250 mm and in some years annual rainfall was even below 100 mm. The potential evapotranspiration which exceeds precipitation by more than two times results in aridity or desertification. Winter precipitation exceeds summer rainfall but overall precipitation level remains low. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, total annual precipitation in 1982 was 155 mm. No recent climate data is available for Kech as presently there is no meteorological station in the district.

The only data available by the Pakistan Meteorological Department is of 1982 published in 1981 census report. In that year total annual rainfall was 155 millimetres at Turbat. This data confirms the "dry arid" climatic category of the area. Winter rainfall provides irrigation water for Rabi crops, i.e., wheat, barley, bakla, and masoor. Sometimes traffic across the streams discontinues due to floods resulting from rainfall.

At Turbat mid summer mean maximum temperature (in June) was 44.8° C in 1982 while mid summer mean minimum temperature was 28.1° C. In the same year the mid winter mean maximum temperature (in January) was 24.7° C and mean minimum temperature in mid winter was 11.6° C.

The annual mean maximum temperature for 1982 was 36.1° C while the annual mean minimum temperature for that year was 20.3° C. This data validates the climatic categorisation of the district as "hot summer and mild winter" because mean monthly temperature in the hottest month of summer was 36.5° C and mean monthly temperature in winter was 23.2° C in 1982.

Back to Kech