C T Online Desk: The country is at long last in the grip of winter chill sweeping all over with the temperature drop accompanied by dense fog and a biting north wind.
A cold spell has been forecast for the second week of January.
The first month of three-month-long winter, December, has been rather warm, with the feeling of cold largely confined to northern and north-western areas, broken by spells of hot weather.
Winter disrupted life all over Bangladesh on Friday, particularly with dense fog severely affecting visibility, triggering long tailbacks on highways, suspending river crossing services for up to eight hours and causing delayed and diverted flights at airports.
While thousands of long distance travellers, many of whom were heading towards different tourist destinations to celebrate the English New Year, embarked on a very long journey, the barely-clothed poor in the north shivered with cold.
On Sunday, the minimum temperature hovered around 10C across almost all districts, with the lowest temperature of 8.7C recorded in Tetulia, the northern-most upazila.
The Met Office reported a mild cold wave, which occurs when the minimum temperature stays at between 8C and 10C over a large area, sweeping through Naogaon, Panchagarh, Jashore and Chuadanga.
‘The weather condition is likely to remain more or less the same over the next three to four days,’ meteorologist Bazlur Rashid told New Age.
The temperature is likely to drop further thereafter, he said, warning that an intense cold feeling would persist because of dense fog particularly in the morning hours.
New Age correspondent in Manikganj reported that a heavy fog suspended ferry services over the major river crossings of Paturia-Daulatdia and Aricha-Kajirhat connecting highways for up to more than eight hours.
The visibility over the Padma River dropped dangerously after 12:00am prompting ten ferries to anchor mid-river until 8:30am, confirmed Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation’s deputy general manager Shah Mohammad Khaled Newaz.
The movement of all kinds of engine-driven boats also remained suspended during the time, leading to long tailbacks of vehicles on both sides of the river.
Hundreds of vehicles were still stranded at the river crossings until Friday evening, with warning that the ferry services may again be suspended for reduced visibility.
Dense fog has been hampering the ferry services for the last five days.
New Age correspondent in Munshiganj reported a tailback stretching over five kilometres starting from the Padma bridge toll plaza at Srinagar at 10:30am.
Alamgir Hossain, officer-in-charge, Padma bridge police station (north), said that they reduced vehicular movement over the bridge due to poor visibility to avoid accident.
The tailback ended at about 2:00pm but was likely to reappear once fog began descending after the night falls.
The Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport authorities said that a dozen national and international flights had been delayed and diverted in the morning hours.
Six flights were diverted to Sylhet and Kolkata.
Cold weather is dangerous for children and the elderly, particularly in the impoverished northern and northwestern Bangladesh, where dozens of deaths were caused by cold-related illnesses which had already been officially recorded.
New Age correspondent in Lalmonirhat reported poor government relief response in Rangpur division where people encountered cold northern wind in rickety homes with inadequate warm clothes.
Char dwellers floating in rivers remained engulfed in a dense fog most of the day swept by non-stop chilly wind.
Cold diarrhoea becomes more prevalent among children during winter when rotavirus gets into wide circulation.
Daily wage earners and farmers suffered a lot, particularly in remote areas, for they must go out in a way or the other to earn their livelihoods.
Health experts urged the government for freely vaccinating children and the elderly against rotavirus and flu.
They also issued advice that the children and the elderly should always be covered in warm clothes and consult physicians in case of lingering cold-related health problems.
