Wind, rain chill North

A mild cold wave, which is sweeping over the regions of Panchagarh, Dinajpur and Nilphamari, may continue and spread, according to the Met office.

“Temperature across the country will go down by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius Saturday [today]. The intensity of fog will also increase,” said Arif Hossain, meteorologist of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).

Meanwhile, the number of patients with diseases related to cold has increased in different districts.

According to the BMD, the lowest temperature in the country was recorded yesterday in Tetulia at 9.2 degrees Celsius. In Dinajpur, the temperature was recorded at 9.4 degrees Celsius while in Nilphamari it was 10 degrees Celsius. In Dhaka, the lowest temperature was 15.2 degrees Celsius.

Light rain is likely to occur at a few places in Chattogram and Sylhet divisions and at one or two places in Khulna, Barisal, Dhaka, Mymensingh and Rajshahi divisions as seasonal low lies over the south Bay, the BMD said.

Weather may remain dry with partly cloudy sky elsewhere over the country.

Meanwhile, chilly weather, coupled with rain, disrupted normal life in different regions of the country yesterday.

In Bogura, people suffered because of wind and rain, said Shah Md Sajib, assistant meteorologist of Bogura BMD.

The situation was similar in other northern districts.

The lowest temperature in Bogura town was recorded at 12.4 degrees Celsius yesterday.

Rain may rise the intensity of cold in the town in the next two days, Sajib said.

Abdul Wadud, assistant director of Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital in Bogura, said, “The number of patients with diseases related to cold is increasing slightly in the last two days. But the situation is under control.

“Fourteen children have been admitted to the hospital with pneumonia and Diarrhoea while 11 adults were admitted with asthma during this time,” he said.

The cold has also been affecting farmers who cultivated potatoes and prepared paddy seedbeds recently in Bogura, said Azizar Rahman, assistant agriculture officer of the Bogura regional office.

In Thakurgaon, a retired high school teacher, who received burn injuries while trying to keep himself warm by sitting beside a fire on December 20, died yesterday morning at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The victim is Nazmul Haque, 70, former assistant teacher of Panchagarh Bisnu Prashad Government High School and an inhabitant of Amkathal Malipara village in Panchagarh Sadar upazila.

Quoting family members, local UP Chairman Golam Musa Kalimullah said the school teacher’s clothes caught fire while he was burning straws to keep himself warm. The lower portion of his body suffered severe burn injuries.

His family members first brought him to Rangpur Medical College Hospital on the same day. The following day he was shifted to the DMCH where he breathed his last.