Bangladesh experts fear climate change link to erratic rainfall pattern

The Financial Express (Bangladesh): Despite intense rainfall within a short span of time in the total quantum of downpour appeared much less than the usual in the past several years, a phenomenon which experts feared is a backlash of change of global climate pattern, reports BSS.

Weather and climate experts said impact of climate change could be manifested in the form of temperature extremes and frequent floods, droughts and cyclones. But in Bangladesh the data of rainfall, a crucial climate change indicator, showed the region appeared a victim of the phenomenon.

"We earlier saw protracted monsoon downpour for three or four consecutive days but the trend disappeared now, intense rainfall in a short period of time triggers flash floods nowadays," Professor Umme Kulsum Navera of Department of Water Resources Engineering of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) told the news agency.

Meteorologists said they recorded 47,447milimetres rainfall in June, July, August and September in 2010, which was less compared to the average of the last 15 years. The country experienced less rainfall in the last year, Meteorologist SM Quamrul Hassan said adding that ten per cent less rainfall was recorded from June to September this year....