Bangladesh Meteorological Department

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) is the national agency responsible for observing, forecasting and disseminating weather and climate information across Bangladesh. It operates a nationwide network of surface stations, radar installations, upper‑air sounding sites and satellite receiving equipment to monitor atmospheric conditions, rainfall, temperature, wind and humidity. BMD produces routine weather forecasts, severe weather warnings, aviation meteorological reports, marine forecasts and agricultural advisories that support sectors such as disaster management, transport, farming and public safety. In addition to meteorological services, the department monitors seismic activity and provides tsunami early‑warning alerts for the Bay of Bengal region. Its data and warnings are issued to government ministries, local authorities, the general public and international organisations under the framework of the World Meteorological Organization.

BMD functions as a statutory body under the Ministry of Defence of the Government of Bangladesh, giving it a mandated regulatory role in the collection and distribution of official hydro‑meteorological information. The department’s distinguishing attributes include its status as the sole authoritative source for national weather warnings and its responsibility for maintaining the country’s meteorological observation infrastructure, which includes Doppler weather radiosondes, automatic weather stations and a satellite data reception centre. BMD also contributes to climate research and long‑term climatological records that inform national adaptation planning. Structurally, it is a direct government department with no parent company or subsidiaries, relying on state funding for its operations and maintenance of observational networks.

On 9 July 2024 the BMD website was compromised by hackers claiming affiliation with “TE4M UCC INDIAN H4CKERS,” resulting in a defacement message and more than two hours of service downtime before access was restored. The incident prompted an investigation into possible server damage and efforts to identify the perpetrators while users experienced disrupted access to online weather products and services. Officials confirmed that the breach was contained and that core meteorological operations remained unaffected during the outage.