Most places of Koshi, Madhesh and Bagmati provinces witnessed light to moderate rainfall on Wednesday, thanks to the westerly low pressure system and low pressure system developed around Bihar of India. The rainfall came as a respite for Nepalis grappling with increasing air pollution and incidents of wildfires.

Met officials said that districts of Koshi, Madhesh and Bagmati provinces witnessed rainfall until Wednesday evening. Along with rainfall, some places also witnessed thunder and lightning.

Some places of Gandaki and Lumbini provinces also witnessed rainfall, said Sanjeev Adhikari, a meteorologist at the Meteorological Forecasting Division under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. “Rainfall will occur on Wednesday night and Thursday as well,” Adhikari said. “Weather disturbances will continue until Friday.”

The Met office said that Janakpur received 15.6 millimetre rainfall on Wednesday, the highest in the country. Simara of Bara district recorded 10.3 mm rainfall followed by Okhaldhunga district at 10.1 mm. Kathmandu received 9.8 mm rainfall, Taplejung 8.5 mm and Dharan 1.8 mm.

Water vapour developed in Bay of Bengal has been moving towards the West from East and could cause rainfall in the Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces on Thursday, Met officials say.

The Forest Fire Detection and Monitoring System in Nepal, a government database for monitoring wildfire incidents, shows low risk of forest fire in Koshi, Madhesh and Bagmati provinces as they received rains on Wednesday.

According to the fire risk outlook forecast by the system, the rest of the provinces have moderate to high risk of fire incidents.

The two-day outlook was developed based on temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and precipitation data generated by high-impact Weather Assessment Toolkit-Nepal.

“When rainfall occurs, the risk of forest fire naturally lessens. It also gives people respite from air pollution,” said Birendra Bajracharya, an expert on forest fire, who also serves at International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). “But the risk of forest fire continues until the monsoon.”

Wildfires are common during dry seasons in Nepal. Of late, several incidents of forest fires and loss of lives and properties have been reported from various districts throughout the country.

April is the peak forest fire season in the country as it records hundreds of wildfire incidents, Bajracharya urges all to take precaution.

According to Nepal Disaster Risk Reduction Portal, 195 fire incidents including 90 forest fires were reported in the country in the past seven days until Wednesday.

Met officials say pre-monsoon rainfall is a normal phenomenon, which helps farmers in cultivation and brings respite from scorching heat in Tarai. Moreover, it lessens forest fire incidents and cleanses air.

The lack of rainfall for a long time has created drought-like conditions in many parts of the country. Farmers dependent heavily on rainfall to cultivate their winter crops have been affected the most.

Experts say winter rainfall has been in a decreasing trend for many years, making several direct and indirect impacts.