Rain lowers temp in city

The capital experienced light to moderate rain on Thursday night, giving the city dwellers some respite from the simmering heat that was prevailing in the recent days.
A senior meteorologist at the Dhaka Met office said the rainfall might help lower the night temperature to some extent.

The mild to moderate heat wave gripped major parts of Bangladesh on Thursday with the daily maximum temperature touching 39 degrees Celsius in the northern and north-eastern regions.
The scorching temperature has put people of the country, especially children, working people and senior citizens, in serious troubles throughout the densely-populated country of around 170 million population.
Lack of fresh drinking water amid the persisting hot weather has triggered an outbreak of diarrhoea while frequent load-shedding has made life unbearable, especially in cramped cities like Dhaka and Chattogram.
Health experts warned people against working outside without covering heads and advised the government about making drinking water accessible to all.
According to them, July is the second month of the rainy season spanning three months but the country has not experienced the average rainfall yet due to climate change impacts.
"A mild heat wave is sweeping over Rajshahi and Sylhet divisions and Dhaka, Tangail, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Nilphamari districts, and it may continue," weather bulletin of Bangladesh Meteorological Department says.
"Rain or thunder shower with intense lightning flashes and temporary gusty or squally wind is likely to occur at a few places over Dhaka, Mymensingh, Rangpur, Khulna, Barishal, Chattogram and Sylhet divisions and at one or two places over Rajshahi division with moderately heavy rainfalls at isolated places over the country," it added
However, the day and night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country.
Country's maximum temperature on Thursday was recorded 39.0 degrees Celsius in Rajshahi followed by Sylhet (38.9 degrees), Sayedpur (38.2 degrees), Rangpur (37.9 degrees), Dinajpur (37.1 degrees), Ishwardi (37 degrees) and Srimangal (37 degrees) while the minimum temperature on the day was recorded 25.0 degrees Celsius in Hatiya.
The capital Dhaka's temperature was recorded 36.3 degrees Celsius.
The highest rainfall in the last 24 hours till 6:00am on Thursday was recorded 15mm in Srimangal.
A heat wave occurs when the daily maximum temperature tops 36 degree Celsius over a large area and it is classified into three categories based on temperature - mild, moderate and severe.
The country's highest-ever temperature of 45C was recorded in Rajshahi on May 18, 1972.
Heat wave is not only hampering public life but also putting an adverse impact on people's mobility.
In 2019, a report of the Meteorological Department said heat stress caused an estimated loss of 148 work hours per person, which means 18.2 billion work hours were lost in total in the year, compared to 13.3 billion work hours lost in 2013.
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