In Bangladesh, the country’s meteorological department said on Sunday that a mild heat wave is sweeping Chattogram, Rangamati and Cox’s Bazar districts and it may continue.
The Maldives is presently experiencing the hottest days of the year, according to the Maldives Meteorological Service (MMS). The weatherman has urged the public to observe caution, especially outdoors.
In a publication last week, the department revealed that the winds have weakened significantly and skies have cleared up. It said that, paired with high humidity, the warm air temperature is aggravated, which makes it seem warmer than the actual temperature – recorded as the “feels like temperature”.
The department revealed that the World Meteorological Organization has cautioned that temperatures are expected to surge above normal, as it coincides with another El Niño event.
In Bangladesh, the country’s meteorological department said on Sunday that a mild heat wave is sweeping Chattogram, Rangamati and Cox’s Bazar districts and it may continue.
“Rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely at one or two places over Khulna division in 24 hours commencing 9 am on Sunday,” said a Met office bulletin.
Day and night temperatures may rise slightly over the country during the same period, the Met office bulletin added, emphasising that the weather would remain mainly dry.
The country’s highest temperate was recorded at 37.1 degrees Celsius in Cox’s Bazar on Saturday March 16.
On Sunday, a fire gutted at least 30 shops in Bangladesh’s largest clothing market at Sheikherchar-Baburhat in Narsingdi, some 45 km west of the country’s capital, Dhaka.
Rising trend
In its research published in October 2023, the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), indicated that if global temperatures rise by 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, around 2.2 billion (220 crore) people living in the Indus River Valley in northern India and eastern Pakistan may experience extended periods of heat that exceed human tolerance.
In such a scenario, northern India, eastern Pakistan, eastern China and Sub-Saharan Africa would predominantly encounter high-humidity heatwaves, the study had said.
Heatwaves with higher humidity levels can be more perilous because the air cannot efficiently absorb excess moisture. This limitation restricts the human body’s ability to evaporate sweat and affects the moisture content of certain infrastructure like evaporative coolers.
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