Weather update: Heat wave returns, rain likely in some places

It rained in some parts of the country including the capital Saturday, the day of Eid-ul-Azha. At the same time, a heat wave swept across at least 13 districts.

According to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), this heat wave is likely to continue today, Sunday, with chances of rainfall in some areas. However, the amount of rainfall is expected to decrease today and may increase again from Wednesday.

The sky over Dhaka was bright and sunny since morning yesterday. However, it started getting cloudy around noon. After 12:00 pm, it rained intermittently in different parts of the capital.

According to BMD records, Dhaka saw 27 millimetres of rain until 3:00 pm yesterday, making it the second highest rainfall in the country for the day. The highest 34 millimetres of rainfall was recorded in Tarash of Sirajganj. It rained in parts of Bogura, Mymensingh, and Barishal also.

Despite the rain, a heat wave swept across the entire Khulna division as well as in Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Panchagarh districts. The highest temperature in the country yesterday was 37 degrees Celsius, recorded in Khulna.

Meteorologist AKM Nazmul Hoque told Prothom Alo Saturday evening that Sunday’s weather is unlikely to be significantly different from Saturday’s. Heat waves may continue to sweep over several regions of the country on Sunday as well. However, rain is also likely in parts of the Mymensingh, Khulna, Dhaka, Barishal, and Chattogram divisions.

Sources from the meteorological department report that the monsoon wind is currently less active over Bangladesh. So the trend of rainfall has declined now.

It started raining across various parts of the country from the end of May and the beginning of the current month. A deep depression had formed over the Bay of Bengal at the end of May, which triggered heavy rain.

As a result, the monsoon winds started blowing in the country around 24 May, at least a week earlier than usual. The rainfall increased from the impact of these two factors. However despite the rainfall, temperatures did not drop. Meteorologists attribute this to the high humidity in the air.