Bangladesh climate falls under the subtropical monsoon category with wide variations in rainfall experienced between its two seasons. Bangladesh climate is also characterized by moderately warm temperatures and high humidity.
A rather flat country, Bangladesh experiences very minor regional fluctuation in its weather patterns that can be divided to three distinct seasons: summers are hot and humid and run between March to June, the cool and rainy monsoon season descends on Bangladesh in June and lasts till October, while the time between October to March is reserved for the country’s cool and dry winter season.
April is the warmest month for most parts of Bangladesh and January the coldest, experiencing temperatures of around 10°C. In contrast, summer temperatures are significantly higher, ranging between 32°C and 38°C.
During the winter season winds are gentle and generally follow a north and northwest direction, averaging speeds of one to three kilometers per hour in northern and central areas and three to six kilometers per hour near the coast. However from March to May Bangladesh feels the devastating effect of violent thunderstorms that travel at speeds of up to sixty kilometers per hour, picking up considerable speed as the monsoon season rolls in. Eventually reaching speeds of more than 160 kilometers per hour, their intensity is so high; they cause waves to crest as high as 6 meters in the Bay of Bengal, which brings disastrous flooding to coastal areas.
Bangladesh is also renewed of its heavy rainfall, which effectively make the country one of the wettest in the world. Most parts of the country receive at least 200 centimeters of rainfall per year with the notable exception of the relatively dry western region of Rajshahi, where the annual rainfall is about 160 centimeters.
The greatest average precipitation is recorded at the region of Sylhet in northeastern Bangladesh, thanks to the areas location just south of the foothills of the Himalayas, where monsoon winds turn west and northwest.
Understandably Bangladesh experiences the bulk of its rainfall – about 80 percent- during the monsoon season. During the hot months of April and May cool, moisture-bearing winds from the Indian Ocean blow through the country, thanks to the impact of the hot air that rises over the Indian subcontinent, effectively creating low-pressure areas. Known as the southwest monsoon, this season runs between June and September, and as it divides against the Indian landmass breaks of into two branches. One of the branches strikes western India and the other travels up the Bay of Bengal and over eastern India and Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is also a country ravished by natural disasters such as floods, tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and tidal bores--destructive waves or floods caused by flood tides rushing up estuaries. While these weather phenomena unleash their devastating powers all over Bangladesh – often resulting in the loss of human life, damage to property and communication systems, and a shortage of drinking water, which leads to the spread of disease - their effects are more pronounced across the country’s coastal belt.
