Jhelum sits on the Indus River plain in Pakistan’s heartland, where a hot semi-arid climate concentrates most of the year’s rainfall into the summer monsoon season from July through September.
On the Jhelum River in northern Punjab, the city closely tracks the river’s level, which is fed by monsoon rain and snowmelt from the mountains upstream. The catastrophic 2010 and 2022 floods, both triggered by exceptionally intense monsoon rainfall combined with river discharge from further upstream, remain the reference events for how quickly this densely populated plain can flood, and Pakistan’s Meteorological Department relies heavily on radar during monsoon season. Learn more: Flash Flood Warning Signs on Radar · Open the full Rain Map