Rain brings sudden respite to city
The skies above Dhaka turned a dramatic shade of pewter on Sunday afternoon as dense rain clouds rolled in without warning, bringing with them strong gusts of wind and a steady downpour that finally ended days of oppressive, suffocating heat.
For millions of residents who had endured the city’s sweltering conditions, the relief was immediate and unmistakable.
Dark clouds blanketed the capital in what seemed almost like a sudden curtain of night, before yielding to gusty winds and sheets of rain that swept through neighbourhoods and alleyways alike.
The mid-afternoon sky grew so overcast that streetlights flickered on in some parts of the city — a vivid reminder of just how dramatically the weather had shifted.
Although a heatwave had been sweeping across various regions of the country since April 22, Dhaka was not officially under a heatwave alert; however, the sweltering humidity had made life uncomfortable for its inhabitants for days.
The sky remained overcast since morning, with light scattered showers beginning around noon before heavier rain resumed in the afternoon, lowering temperatures and easing discomfort after days of intense heat.
Children and the elderly had been falling ill, and hospitals were seeing a rise in heat-related cases in the days leading up to Sunday’s rain. Rickshaw pullers, construction workers, and street vendors — those with no refuge from the open sky — had borne the heaviest burden of the heat.
“Gradually, rain will spread to central and southern regions, bringing relief from the heat,” meteorologist Md Tariful Newaz Kabir had told the media, adding that temperatures in Dhaka were expected to start falling from Sunday or the day after.
That forecast proved accurate.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) has now issued a fresh alert, warning that the weather is not done yet.
Within 48 hours from noon Sunday, Nor’westers — the seasonal Kal-Baishakhi thunderstorms that are both feared and welcomed across Bangladesh’s pre-monsoon landscape — may strike intermittently over Rangpur, Rajshahi, Mymensingh, Dhaka and Sylhet divisions.
Wind speeds could reach 60 to 80 kilometres per hour or more in some areas, and the storms may bring lightning and isolated hail.
The BMD has also forecast light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally winds and lightning across several parts of the country in the 24 hours from 9am Sunday.
Some places in Rangpur, Mymensingh, and Sylhet divisions may additionally see moderate to very heavy rainfall over the next 96 hours, as deep convective cloud systems are expected to develop and persist over the northern regions.
Temperature readings from the past 24 hours illustrate the scale of the heat that preceded Sunday’s relief. The highest temperature on Saturday, April 25, was recorded at 38.4°C in Rajshahi, while the lowest temperature recorded today stood at 22.3°C in Tetulia under Rangpur division — a near 16-degree spread that underscores Bangladesh’s sharp regional variation during the pre-monsoon season.
The BMD has said day and night temperatures are likely to decrease slightly across the country in the coming days, offering a broader reprieve beyond Dhaka.
The arrival of Sunday’s rain coincides with Kal-Baishakhi season — the stormy weeks of Baishakh, the first month of the Bengali calendar, when the northwest brings volatile, fast-moving thunderstorms to the delta.
These storms, though occasionally destructive, are also a vital source of pre-monsoon rainfall for crops and water tables across the country.
Sunday’s rainfall, if it sustains, marks the beginning of the pre-monsoon transition that gradually tips Bangladesh’s weather from punishing heat into the long, wet embrace of June’s full monsoon.
Until then, the BMD’s storm warnings serve as a reminder that the sky over Bangladesh in Baishakh can shift, in a matter of minutes, from a scorching blue to a turbulent, wind-whipped grey.
