Power Grid Company of Bangladesh is implementing load shedding every hour as power demand increased amidst the ongoing heatwave that began on the first day of the month.聽
The cyclonic storm Remal, which hit with heavy wind and very heavy rains, had brought a momentary relief to people from load shedding following a drop in the cooling demand.
But the cooling demand rose immediately after the cyclone dissipated with onset of the heatwave.
On Sunday, Bangladesh Meteorological Department said that a mild to moderate heatwave swept the entire Khulna division and the districts of Madaripur, Faridpur, Gopalganj, Rajshahi and Pabna.
Bangladesh鈥檚 highest maximum day air temperature of 38.6C was recorded in Chuadanga.
Chuadanga recording the highest maximum temperature denotes the heatwave existing over vast swathes covering Pakistan, India and Bangladesh as the western district is considered the gateway of wind from the neighboring countries.
鈥楾he heatwave is likely to continue for at least three more days,鈥� said Muhammad Abul Kalam Mallik.
Sylhet and Mymensingh divisions however are likely to keep witnessing heavy rainfall at places over the same time, he said.
On Sunday, Bangladesh鈥檚 highest load shedding of 582MW was recorded at 1:00am. At the peak load shedding hour, according to the PGCB, the power demand was 15700MW.
Weather forecasters said that the persistence of heatwave in gaps of continued monsoon rain highlighted the warming of the globe.
Heatwaves are not unusual in monsoon but rare.
For instance, the BMD-published report titled Changing Climate of Bangladesh said that June heatwaves occurred in six of the years in the decade between 1981 and 1990 in Dhaka division.
In the next decade, June heatwaves occurred only in two years in Dhaka. In the years between 2001 and 2010, there were no heatwaves in six years in June in Dhaka. But the June heatwaves occurred in eight years of the decade between 2011 and 2020.
In 2023, the June heatwave was particularly worse, leading to water crisis in parts of Bangladesh, including in the capital.
The historic heatwave records of other divisions showed the similar trend.
The BMD predicted light to moderate rain accompanied by temporary gusty wind at many places over Rangpur, Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions, at a few places over Rajshahi, Dhaka and Chattogram divisions and at one or two places over Khulna and Barishal divisions with moderately heavy to heavy falls at places over Rangpur, Mymensingh ande Sylhet divisions until 6:00pm today.
In the 24 hours until 6:00pm on Sunday, Bangladesh鈥檚 highest rainfall of 261mm was recorded in Sylhet.
The IMD predicted heatwave conditions to prevail in pockets of Jharkhand, Bihar and Gangetic West Bengal through June 13.
The IMD also predicted rain over north-east Indian states, including very heavy rain falls in Assam and Meghalaya between June 11 and 13.
