Even though autumn has begun, the monsoon season has not ended; today, Tuesday, the capital has been witnessing drizzle and cloudy skies since morning. In the last 24 hours, Dhaka and its surrounding areas have received 8 millimeters of rain. In the next 6 hours from 7 am, the Meteorological Department said that there may be rain or thundershowers in Dhaka today and the sky may remain partly to temporarily cloudy.
The low pressure area over the northwest Bay of Bengal and adjacent coastal areas has intensified into a monsoon depression, which is likely to move further northwestwards. Due to this, there is a possibility of rain and thunderstorms, with heavy to very heavy rainfall at places, in various parts of the country. The axis of the monsoon extends from Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, the centre of the depression and southern parts of Bangladesh to Assam, and the monsoon is active over the country and strong in the north Bay of Bengal.
The forecast till 6 pm on Tuesday says that light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by gusty winds are likely in most places of Khulna, Barisal, Rajshahi, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions and many places of Rangpur, Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions, and moderate to heavy to very heavy rains are also likely in some places. Although the daytime temperature may drop by 1-2 degrees, the night temperature may remain almost unchanged. Similar rains are forecast in many places of eight divisions in the next 24 hours from 6 pm.
Due to the impact of this low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, the Meteorological Department has issued a warning of heavy to very heavy rain in parts of Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions in the next 48 hours. Due to the rough sea, local warning signal number 3 has been maintained at the seaports of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Mongla and Payra. Fishing boats and trawlers have been advised to move carefully near the coast until further notice. It is to be noted that 44-88 mm of rain in 24 hours is considered heavy and more than 88 mm of rain is considered very heavy.
The warning said that heavy rainfall may cause temporary waterlogging in some parts of these areas, especially in the hilly areas of Chittagong division. Meteorologist AKM Nazmul Haque said that isolated rains may occur in other parts of the country outside the four divisions and although there is a possibility of rain in the capital, the risk of very heavy rain is relatively low.
Although the capital received 6 millimeters of rain on Monday, the coastal areas received much more rain—the highest rainfall recorded in Chittagong in the 24 hours before 6 pm was 195 millimeters. The highest temperature recorded on Monday was 33.5 degrees Celsius in Rajarhat, Kurigram, while it was 31.5 degrees in the capital.
The Meteorological Department has warned that the rains may bring some relief to public life after the prolonged heat wave, but the heavy rains may cause waterlogging, disruption to traffic and the risk of landslides in hilly areas. Residents of hilly areas of Chittagong have been advised to be alert and prepare to move to safe places in case of emergency. They have been urged to follow the latest bulletin of the Meteorological Department regarding updated warnings and changes in seaport signals.
