Home ›› 08 Jan 2023 ›› Front
A mild cold wave is sweeping parts of the country, and it may continue for another two or three days, said Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).Omar Faruk, a meteorologist of the BMD, said temperatures in most parts of the country decreased over the past few days.
Dhaka recorded 11.5 degree Celsius — the lowest this season — on Saturday morning, he said.
“The situation may continue for the next two-three days in the country,” he predicted, adding that the situation may improve from January 11-12.
“A mild cold wave is sweeping Rajshahi division, Faridpur, Madaripur, Kishoreganj, Dinajpur, Nilphamari, Panchagarh, Jashore, Chuadanga, Kushtia, Satkhira, and Barishal districts and it may continue,” read a BMD bulletin.
The Met office made the forecast at 6pm Saturday for the next 24 hours. The weather may remain dry with a partly cloudy sky over the country, it said. Moderate to thick fog may occur over the country from midnight till morning and it may continue at places till noon.
Night and day temperatures may remain nearly unchanged over the country. Due to the reduced difference between day and night temperatures, feelings of moderate to severe cold conditions are likely over the country, it added.
The country’s maximum temperature on Friday was recorded at 26.7 degrees Celsius at Teknaf of Chattogram division, while the minimum temperature Saturday was 8.4 degrees Celsius at Chuadanga of Khulna division.
The sun set at 5:26pm on Saturday and rises at 6:43am Sunday in the capital.
Coupled with cooler winds and fog, the sweeping cold wave deteriorated weather during the last 24 hours in the northern region, where normal life continued to remain disrupted in recent days.
Fewer numbers of people were seen outside their homes as thick layers of clouds and fog covered the sun in most areas. Elderly people, women and babies are the worst sufferers, especially in rural and riverine char areas, due to the sweeping bone-chilling cold.
Meanwhile, the district and upazila administrations, NGOs, business bodies, financial institutions and charitable organisations have further intensified the distribution of warm clothes among cold-hit people in the northern districts.
Officials at different hospitals and upazila health complexes said the number of pneumonia, fever, diarrhoea, asthma and respiratory problem-related patients rose on Saturday, keeping doctors busy.
Reports of disruption of normal life were received on Saturday from Kurigram, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Rangpur and Nilphamari districts.
Ferry services remained suspended from early morning on the Aricha-Kazirhat and Paturia-Daulatdia routes on Saturday, before resuming around 11am, as dense fog blanketed the Padma and Jamuna riverbeds.
Earlier this week, officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) at its Rangpur regional office said the sweeping cold wave might affect the normal growth of different Rabi crop plants if the situation further deteriorates.
Additional Deputy of the DAE at its regional office Agriculturist Mohammad Shah Alam said field-level agriculture officers are assisting farmers in nursing growing winter crop plants and Boro rice seedlings to save those from cold injuries.
He suggested farmers irrigate Boro rice seedbeds at night and discharge water in the mornings and keep seedbeds under cover of polythene sheets to save seedlings from the foggy weather and the risk of cold injuries.
