Heatwave likely to continue with no sign of rains

Bangladeshis’ wait for an end to an ongoing heatwave is not likely to be over soon as the Met Office sees little chance of rain. 

A mild heatwave was sweeping over Dhaka, Chattogram and Khulna divisions and the districts of Rajshahi, Pabna, Patuakhali and Bhola, Bangladesh Meteorological Department said on Wednesday. 

The heatwave might continue, it said in the forecast for Thursday. 

​​The weather may remain mainly dry with temporary partly cloudy skies over the country.

The Met Office said there are chances of rains with gusts at one or two places over the Rajshahi, Dhaka and Khulna divisions. 

Day temperature may remain nearly unchanged, and night temperature may rise slightly over the country. 

The highest temperature was recorded at 38.1 degrees Celsius in Cox’s Bazar. Dhaka’s highest temperature was 37.5 degrees Celsius. 

Mohan Kumar Das, executive director of the National Oceanographic and Maritime Institute, said Cox’s Bazar recorded the highest temperature because the sky in the country's southeast is mainly clear. 

He said it would take two to three more days to see if the heat in the coastal region bodes a storm.

After sporadic rains and gusts, the intense heat eased slightly last week as Bangladesh's highest temperature was recorded at 42 degrees Celsius in the Rajshahi Division on Apr 17, compared with 43 degrees Celsius recorded a day earlier in Ishwardi in the same region, the highest in five decades. 

It was some of the hottest weather in the country’s history. 

Chuadanga recorded a temperature of 42 degrees Celsius in 2014. Before that, the highest temperature recorded in the country was 43 degrees Celsius in 1995 and 2002. 

The highest temperature on record since Bangladesh’s independence was 45.1 degrees in Rajshahi on May 15, 1972.