Bangladesh (record breaking heat April 2023)

Bangladesh has been enduring a record-breaking heatwave in April 2023, with temperatures in Dhaka reaching 40.5°C on 16 April for the first time in 58 years. Not only is the heat extremely uncomfortable for everyone affected, but it has negative impacts on human health, agriculture, and labour productivity.

Though the relatively cold Arctic seems far away from sweltering Bangladesh, there is evidence that Arctic change is linked to extreme weather around the world. This is because the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world on average, in part because the loss of reflective snow and ice drives an ever-faster feedback loop of warming.

In turn, an imbalance in the heat differentials between the cooler northern latitudes and the rest of the world causes changes in atmospheric circulation. These changes can manifest as periods of unusually hot or cold temperatures elsewhere in the world, such as the heatwave in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is also threatened by sea level rise. Read more about how sea level rise affects Bangladesh here.

Read more about heat stress here.

Read more about extreme weather here.

Read more about sea level rise here.