The southwestern monsoon system, which heralds the rainy season in the country, arrived in the Bay of Bengal near Yangon in Myanmar yesterday. It may start spreading over Bangladesh in the first week of June after reaching Teknaf coast early next week, meteorologists at the Dhaka Met Office said yesterday. The coming monsoon is likely to generate normal rainfall, though a meeting of regional experts at the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum last month concluded that the rains may be below normal in the region, albeit with variations in western and central regions that may experience more rains. But the global weather changing pattern had ushered in more than normal rainfall, said a monsoon watcher with the meteorological department.
Meteorologists, however, said the current spell of rains since Wednesday is not due to the advancement of the monsoon system in the Bay of Bengal from the Arabian Sea. The showers also do not have any relation with the cyclonic storm Roanu that had battered Bangladesh’s coastline last Saturday. Roanu had triggered sea surges and high winds reaching a speed of up to 100 kmph accompanied by heavy rains, leaving a trail of destruction.
Meanwhile, rains continued for the third day yesterday due to a westerly low pressure over Gangetic West Bengal with its trough of low extending to the northern Bay of Bengal, heavily influencing the pre-monsoon weather over Bangladesh. Dhaka yesterday recorded a total rainfall of 4 mm. The day’s highest rainfall of 26 mm was recorded in Mongla, followed by 12mm in Sylhet. The rains may continue today and may spill over to the next few days if the westerly pressure hangs around north western Bangladesh causing nor’westers.