"It is the lowest temperature since authorities started keeping records in 1948," Shamsuddin Ahmed, head of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, told AFP. The previous low of 2.8 degrees was recorded in 1968, he added. Ahmed said Bangladesh was in the "grip of a severe cold wave", with temperatures dipping across all northern districts over the past few days.
The coldest temperatures were recorded in the border town of Tetulia, about 400 kilometres (247 miles) north of the capital Dhaka. One local broadcaster reported that at least nine people had died from exposure, including six in one of the coldest locations in the northern district of Kurigram.
Officials said they were not aware of any deaths so far. Authorities have distributed at least 70,000 blankets to poorer Bangladeshis shivering in the coldest areas of Panchagarh and Nilphamari, government administrators in those two districts said.