PMD spokesperson confirmed Naran has an automatic weather station, shows max temperature was 27.2°C on May 19
Meteorologists said the temperature of Naran did not hit 30°C in May. PHOTO: FILE
Recently, several local digital media pages on X, Facebook and Instagram have been claiming that temperatures in Naran reached 30°C in the last week of May, raising concerns regarding the impact of climate change across the country.
“Known for its cool climate, snow-fed rivers, and refreshing mountain weather, Naran has long served as a summer escape for travellers seeking relief from the intense heat experienced in many parts of Pakistan. The unusually high temperature has prompted discussions about changing weather patterns and the potential impact of climate change on the country’s northern regions,” reads the caption of an Instagram post by Connected Pakistan.
Others also shared the claim in a similar way, as seen here, here, here, here, here and here.
However, none of these posts specified a time or date when the temperature was recorded.
What we found
A keyword search conducted to corroborate whether any local or international media outlets had reported on temperatures in Naran reaching a record 30°C did not yield any results.
PMD Spokesperson Anjum Nazir Saigham told iVerify Pakistan the department had an automatic weather station in Naran. “Latest data from there shows that the maximum temperature in Naran was 27.2°C, recorded on May 19, 2026,” he said.
Muhammad Fahim Ahmad, the regional deputy director of the KP Met Office, concurred. “The highest temperature recorded in Naran during May was 27.7°C while the mercury in Balakot reached 32.5°C,” he told Dawn’s KP correspondent Arif Hayat.
Junaid Yamin, who runs private weather channel WeatherWalay, also backed the PMD’s findings in a telephonic conversation with iVerify Pakistan.
That said, even though the mercury in Naran did not reach 30°C, the maximum temperature of 27.7°C was still alarming. “Average temperatures in Naran during May are usually recorded between 12-20°C,” said Fatima Yamin, a climate change and disaster management expert.
She noted that there was a bigger picture behind the rising mercury. Yamin quoted a recent report released by the World Meteorological Organisation, which state that the El Niño effect — a natural climate phenomenon characterised by the warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean — will get intense from June onward.
“And the southern hemisphere feels it more than the northern hemisphere,” the expert explained, adding that El Niño increases the intensity of below-normal rainfall. “It also increases the length and intensity of the heat.”
The same was also highlighted in a Reuters report dated June 2, 2026. “The El Nino weather pattern is forming, and is expected to cause extreme weather around the world this year,” it said, adding that climate change would make its impact especially worse.
On the other hand, Haider Raza of the World Wildlife Fund warned that temperatures are expected to go higher in June and attributed this to climate change. According to him, the contributing factors include vehicular emissions, carbon emissions caused by reinforced cement concrete infrastructure, solid waste dumps and the use of liquified petroleum gas.
“All of these factors, combined, result in higher temperatures and ground-level ozone — a harmful air pollutant that is formed by nitrogen oxides [emitted by vehicles] and volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight,“ he added.
Conlusion
While temperatures in Naran did not reach 30°C, the rising mercury in the town poses an alarming situation.
This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.
