Daily and 3-hourly weather information in code figures and daily rainfall data from 19 stations in Bangladesh for the months of March through May, from 1983 through to 1992, have been analyzed to give some understanding to the space/time distributions as well as to the nature of the thunderstorms throughout the country. The statistical characteristics of these disturbances are presented.
It turns out that over Bangladesh thunderstorm (TS) occurrence has a wide variation in terms of both space and time. Whereas in Sylhet TS. days make up 50% of the premonsoon season, in Maijdee they comprise only 10%. However, in Maijdee precipitation per TS day is abnormally high. In central Bangladesh, the most dominant time of TS occurrence is either late afternoon or early evening, unlike that in the north where the corresponding time is either night or early morning. In general, the frequency of TSs as well as the amount of precipitation are greatest in the month of May almost all over the country with the average rain ll per TS day being quite high though dry TS days are still quite numerous.