The government is expanding and upgrading the weather radar network to bring almost the entire country under radar coverage.

Speaking to Wealth Pakistan, a spokesman for the Pakistan Meteorological Department said the PMD is adopting modern radar technology to monitor severe weather events, including floods, thunderstorms, heavy rainfall and sea storms, enabling forecasters to issue timely alerts and help protect lives and property, said a press release.

The spokesman said the department currently operates advanced radar systems in Islamabad, Karachi, Mardan and Sialkot, while a new radar is being installed in Multan with support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

He said that once the upcoming projects are completed, nearly all major regions of Pakistan would fall within radar coverage, significantly enhancing the country’s numerical weather prediction models and disaster preparedness capacity.

Explaining the system, he said the 13-storey radar towers at the PMD headquarters in Islamabad and Karachi have already been built with Japanese financial assistance.

The S-band solid-state radars installed there can monitor weather activity within a radius of around 450 kilometres.

According to him, the radars provide real-time information on rainfall intensity, cloud formation, wind speed, wind direction and storm movement.

He said the radar system updates weather data every 10 minutes, allowing forecasters to closely track developing weather systems and issue alerts every few hours.

“A radar acts as a nowcasting tool,” he said, adding that it is widely used for flood forecasting, rainfall estimation and monitoring runoff in dams and river catchments.

The PMD spokesman said Pakistan’s radar network includes S-band, C-band and X-band systems, each selected according to topography and weather requirements.

For example, the Islamabad and Karachi radars are S-band systems with coverage of up to 450 kilometres, while the X-band radar in Mardan covers around 120 kilometres and is used mainly for valley observations.

The C-band radar in Sialkot, which covers about 350 kilometres, plays a key role in tracking monsoon systems entering from the Indian catchment areas.

He said that the Karachi radar is particularly important for monitoring sea-based weather activity and tropical storm systems over the Arabian Sea.

The spokesman said the department earlier had only five radar systems, many of which had become outdated.

The old Islamabad radar had completed its 30-year operational life before being replaced with the latest Japanese-supported system.

Highlighting the importance of radar technology, he said rain gauges alone cannot provide widespread real-time weather information across vast regions, whereas modern radar systems can monitor weather activity over hundreds of kilometres instantly.

He said radar data is also shared with the country’s airports and aviation authorities, where PMD staff monitor weather conditions round the clock and brief pilots in real time about any hazardous activity along flight paths.

The Flood Forecasting Division in Lahore also uses the radar network to monitor catchment areas and issue flood warnings, he added.

The PMD spokesman expressed confidence that with the completion of the Multan project and the planned expansion to other cities, Pakistan’s weather forecasting capabilities would become far more accurate and effective in responding to climate-related threats.