Chilly weather may stay another week

A bone-chilling breeze suddenly hit the capital on Wednesday and the low temperature may sustain for another week, said the Met office.

According to the latest information from the Department of Meteorology, the country is facing the third cold wave of the season.

The weather forecast on Friday said that the weather will be mainly dry across the country. There will be thick fog from midnight to morning. Day and night temperatures may remain unchanged.

Senior meteorologist Omar Farooq told The Business Standard, "The minimum temperature in most parts of Rajshahi, Rangpur and Khulna divisions was between 9-11 degrees Celsius on Thursday. The minimum temperature recorded in Dhaka was 13.1 degrees Celsius."

Temperature in many areas has fallen because of the third cold wave. The lowest temperature in the country on Thursday, 8.3 degree Celsius, was recorded in Dinajpur

The Department of Meteorology said this mild cold wave over the Rangpur division, including Sitakunda, Srimangal, Rajshahi, Pabna, Naogaon and Chuadanga areas, may continue till the beginning of February.

The cold wave is considered mild, when the minimum temperature drops across a large area to between 8 and 10 degrees Celsius; if it is between 6 to 7 degrees Celsius, it is considered a moderate cold wave; and between 4 to 6 degrees Celsius is considered as a severe cold wave.

After December and mid-January, the third phase of cold wave is sweeping the north-western districts.

On 18-23 December and 26-31 December, mild to moderate cold waves affected Rangpur, Rajshahi, Kushtia and Jashore regions.

On January 15, the mercury dropped to 6.5 degrees Celsius, which is the lowest temperature of the current season.

The winter is expected to fade in mid-February.