As an Indian city in Rajasthan of India sizzled with temperatures soaring to a record high at 51 degrees Celsius and Sri Lanka struggled with floodwaters, Nepal has witnessed brief to moderate rains in the last two days in a sign of end of the prolonged dry spell.

The pre-monsoon season that starts in March has now become active, according to weathermen. 

Monsoon in Nepal starts in the second week of June during which 80 percent of the annual precipitation in the country occurs. 

About 100-110 percent rainfall has been predicted for this year, which according to weathermen is normal for monsoon.  Last monsoon, the country received 76 percent of the average rainfall while in the previous year the figure was 94 percent, resulting in a drought-like situation in many parts. Normal monsoon this year has been forecast due to weakening of the El Nino phenomenon. Many places in the country, particularly the central and eastern regions, received brief to moderate rains on Friday. 

According to the Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD), rain is expected to continue for the next two days. In a special bulletin on Friday, the MFD said Cyclone Roanu was moving north-east from the Bay of Bengal and is expected to intensify, bringing heavy rains along the Andhra Pradesh in India and towards Bangladesh. 

This cyclonic movement impacted local weather in Nepal bringing rains throughout the country on Friday. “Local weather will remain cloudy with continuous rains in eastern and central regions, along with heavy snowfall in high mountains for the next two-three days,” said Subash Rimal, a meteorologist at the MFD. On Friday, Biratnagar received highest rainfall measuring 38.4mm followed by Dhankuta (38mm) and Simara (16.4mm). Kathmandu received 9.8mm rainfall. The average monthly rainfall for Kathmandu for May is 123.6mm.