Bangladesh experienced its longest heat wave on record this April with forecasts showing no improvement for the rest of the month, according to meteorologists. Bazlur Rashid, a meteorologist at the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, told Anadolu that heat waves swept the country for 27 consecutive days until Saturday. "According to data available since 1948, this month (April) has already seen record number of heatwave days in a single year," he added. This year, for the first time, almost 75% of the country has experienced continuous heatwave. The most recent example of such extreme heat was recorded in 2014 when the country saw 25 days of heatwave, Rashid added.
The Met Office weather forecaster said on Saturday that a very severe heat wave was sweeping western, western and central Bangladesh, while the rest of the country was witnessing severe to mild heat waves. "Climate change is among the main causes of extreme weather," Rashid said, adding that Bangladesh's capital Dhaka has become a difficult place to live in summer due to declining greenery and water bodies. Meanwhile, a season's high temperature of 42.7 degrees Celsius was recorded in Chuadanga on Friday. A recent study by the Met Office showed that the minimum and maximum temperatures in the country are increasing, while the maximum temperature is increasing rapidly. Extreme weather conditions have disrupted people's lives and livelihoods, especially for low-income groups, in the South Asian nation of 170 million. In the second week of April, the country was forced to close schools and educational institutions for a week due to the heat wave.
