Dhaka: Bangladesh had its hottest April temperature since record keeping began in 1948, a senior observer told AFP on Wednesday.
“2024 is the hottest April since 1948,” said Mohammad Abul Kalam Mallick, a senior observer at the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.
Bangladesh is in the grip of a sweltering wave that has forced the closure of schools across the country, with temperatures not expected to moderate until Thursday.
“This year, the heat wave has covered 80 percent of the country. We have never seen such an unbroken and widespread wave,” Mallick said.
Mallick said the 30-year average temperature for April between 1981 and 2010 was 33.2 degrees, but this year weather stations across the country have seen temperatures between two and eight degrees higher.
He also added that Bangladesh has not seen the usual pre-April storms that cool the South Asian nation ahead of summer.
“Bangladesh gets average of 130.2 millimeters of rain in April. But this April we got average of one millimeter of rain.”
Mallick said the bureau is checking the data to confirm if there is less rain this April.
