C T Online Desk: July, the second month of the three-month-long monsoon season, should have received 21,347mm rainfall but instead it received 9,069mm, according to the Met Department.
‘This is frightening to see extreme weather events unfold back-to-back,’ meteorologist Bazlur Rashid told New Age.
Extreme rainfalls over a vast region stretching from north-eastern Bangladesh to its adjacent upstream areas across the border in India in June triggered an unprecedented flooding, according to official data.
The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre data show that 10 rain-gauging stations saw their historic rainfall record broken with up to 40 per cent of excess rain in June.
There were 17 other stations, mostly in the Meghna basin of the north-eastern haor region, where above-normal rains, up to 272 per cent in excess, were recorded.
Sylhet division recorded the highest-ever June rainfall of 1,456mm this year since the beginning of record-keeping in 1952, surpassing the previous highest rainfall record of 1,396mm logged in June 2004.
Similar to Bangladesh, Indian media reported that Mawsynram, one of the wettest places on earth, received 1,003mm rainfall between June 16 and June 17, which was the highest-ever 24-hour rainfall, surpassing the previous record of 945mm in 1966.
But days grew abnormally dry in July with clear blue sky with small patches of white clouds dominating the skies, with the sun burning unbearably hot as soon as the day broke.
The huge lack of rainfall lent July a rather cruel look with the day temperature leaping close to 40C at places, particularly in the north, affecting agricultural activities and livelihoods of the poor depending on outdoor work.
The Met Department recorded that the maximum temperature in July this year was 2.6C warmer than the average normal temperature.
The minimum temperature, on the other hand, the department said, was 0.9C warmer than the average normal temperature.
In regions like Dhaka and Barishal, the minimum temperature in July was more than 1C higher than the average normal temperature, according to the Met Department.
‘These weather phenomena are clearly associated with global warming,’ said Bazlur Rashid.
Chattogram division recorded a 67.8 per cent rain deficiency, followed by Barishal with 64.6 per cent, Rajshahi with 61.8 per cent, Dhaka with 60.5 per cent, Mymensingh with 50.4 per cent, Rangpur with 30.1 per cent and Sylhet with 8.3 per cent.
July saw two heat waves for 18 days, with one of them stretching over 15 days.
The Met Department has predicted slightly less than normal temperature for August.
Kolkata, the capital of the neighbouring Indian state of West Bengal, ended July with a 41 per cent rain deficiency, reported Indian media, the highest rain deficiency since 2019.
Gangetic Bengal, too, ended July with a 47 per cent rain deficiency, the highest since 2019.
Scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have already warned about a warmer climate influencing weather patterns and rainfall variability, including events in which a season would see two to three high rainfall events while the rest of the days would go through a dry spell.
The Met Department has, however, predicted a brief to mid-term flooding in northern, north-eastern and south-eastern regions.
