Climatic variability

Abstract

This chapter discusses the long-term variability of temperature and rainfall in Dhaka for the years 1953-2008 using surface meteorological data provided by the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD). Baseline climate values are defined as the mean values between 1972 and 2000, and deviations from these means are examined as annual anomalies. The annual surface temperature anomaly has a positive trend with statistical significance and a rate of increase of 1.9°C per 100 years. Positive statistically significant trends are also found for three out of four individual seasons. No significant trends were found for annual and seasonal variability in rainfall.