Photo: Messenger
This April was the hottest on record, according to a statement released by Bangladesh's weather agency on Wednesday (1 May). Heatwaves are becoming longer, more frequent, and more intense due to climate change, according to a large body of evidence.
The unbearable heat last month prompted Bangladesh's government to close schools across the country, keeping an estimated 32 million students at home.
"This year the heatwave covered around 80% of the country. We've not seen such unbroken and expansive heatwaves before," said Bangladesh Meteorological Department senior forecaster Muhammad Abul Kalam Mallik.
He said last month was the hottest April in Bangladesh since records began in 1948 "in terms of hot days and area coverage in the country".
Weather stations around Bangladesh this year recorded average daily maximum temperatures between two and eight degrees hotter than the 33.2-degree-Celsius (91.8-degree-Fahrenheit) average daily high for April over a 30-year period to 2010, he added.
After a week of oppressively hot weather, with some days above 40°C in Dhaka, rain is predicted to provide some relief to Bangladesh starting on Thursday.
Mallik said the severity of the heat had been worsened by the absence of the usual pre-monsoon April thunderstorms, which normally cool the country ahead of summer.
"Bangladesh gets an average of 130.2 millimetres of rain in April. But this April we got an average of one millimetre of rain," he said.
Messenger/Mumu
