Brief to moderate rains in many places in the hills and mountains since Tuesday evening are expected bring respite from haze resulted from raging forest fires in the country. 

The Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD) on Tuesday forecast rainfall in many hill and mountain regions, except for the Tarai plains, until Thursday. “Rain clouds are dispersed throughout the country, particularly in the hills and high mountains and a few other places. This will bring down temperatures and also help control fires,” said Samir Shrestha, a meteorologist at the MFD. 

Traces of rains were experienced in Kathmandu, Pokhara, Jomson, Lumle, Janakpur, Dharan and Jiri on Tuesday evening. 

As a result, daytime temperatures in many Tarai districts, which were hovering around 4o degrees Celcius, dropped gradually on Tuesday. Nepalgunj recorded a daytime temperature of 38.5 degrees Celsius—the highest among the 20 meteorological stations across the country on the day. 

Wildfires have already destroyed more than 350,000 hectares of forests and killed at least 10 people since the onset of dry season this March. 

The extended spell of hot and dry weather this year has witnessed a historic high number of fire-related incidents this April.