Online Desk

Bangladesh on Friday set an all-time heat wave record as the Met Office recorded 24 days of heat wave during the current month of April breaching the previous 23 days of heat wave in 2019.

Meanwhile, Chuadanga recorded the highest temperature of this season at 42.7 degrees Celsius on Friday, said Jaminur Rahman, in-charge of Chuadanga Weather Observatory Centre.

“Twenty-three days of heat waves were logged during two months of April and May in 2019, which were considered the prolonged heat waves in the history of the country. But April alone crossed the grim milestone setting a new record of heat wave days,” Dr Abul Kalam Mallik, meteorologist of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) said.

The ongoing heat wave will continue until the next month meaning the number of days of heat wave is expected to increase this year, he said, adding alongside the alarmingly rising heat wave in a single year, Bangladesh has already set another record of severe and very severe heat wave days, indexes of measuring hot weather. Explaining the three key indexes of hot weather heat wave, severe heat wave and very severe heat wave, the BMD meteorologist said, “We consider temperatures above 36 degrees Celsius for at least two consecutive days as heat waves while temperatures between 40 degrees and 42 degrees are severe heat waves and temperature of above 42 degrees Celsius are very severe heat wave.”

Mallik said severe heat waves have been sweeping in the country since 19 April and severe and very severe heat waves are continuing meaning the country already witnessed eight days of severe and very severe heat waves.

According to the previous data of BMD, the number of days of severe and very severe heat waves was between one and seven days in the country, he added.

But this year, prolonged severe and very severe heat waves already have exceeded the previous record.

The weather expert said earlier, that the western and northern regions – Khulna, Rajshahi, and Rangpur of Bangladesh are considered heat wave-prone areas. Some southwestern parts of Barishal division and Dhaka division experienced a heat wave, he continued.

“Since the 90s, days of heat wave have been increasing alarmingly in Bangladesh giving a clear signal that the country may face prolonged heat waves. Simultaneously heat waves are spreading across the country,” Mallik added.

“Once, heat waves were confined in the western, northern and central parts of Bangladesh. But this year the entire country witnessing heat waves. It means the weather pattern in Bangladesh has changed drastically extending heat wave coverage areas with its intensity,” he added,

According to the BMD collected data, 18 days of the heat wave were recorded between 13 and 14 April in Dhaka in 1999, 13 days of the heat wave were posted in Dhaka in May 2004 and 18 days, 19 days, 20 days of the heat wave in Jashore in 2014, 2016 and 2017 respectively.

The BMD also added that 13, 10, 17 days and 13 days of heat wave were reported in 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2022 in Rajshahi respectively while 19 and 23 days of a heat wave in 2014 and 2019 in Chuadanga.

Mallik blamed the reduction of thunderstorms for increasing heat waves in the country as only one thunderstorm occurred in April this year while the Met Office recorded four thunderstorms in 2021, 9 thunderstorms in 2022 and seven in 2023. The frequency of thunderstorms was much higher than in recent years, he said adding thunderstorms has contributed to reducing hot weather.

The entire country is reeling under the first spell of severe heat wave since the first week of the current month and the ongoing heat wave will persist throughout the next month. “The Met Office issued a heat alert on 3 April and it has extended the heat alert as Bangladesh is likely to experience prolonged heat wave compared to the past couple of years,” Shahnaz Sultana, a meteorologist of Bangladesh Meteorologist Department (BMD), told BSS recently.