People residing in the Tarai region were relieved of scorching heat as the rainfall since Sunday evening continued through Monday, lowering the temperature levels.

The Meteorological Forecasting Division under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology said that almost all districts lying in the hilly and mountain regions witnessed rainfall on Monday.

“Districts of the Tarai region of the Lumbini province also witnessed rainfall, bringing some respite to the residents from scorching heat,” said Prativa Manandhar, a meteorologist at the division. “Rainfall in hilly and mountain regions throughout the country lowered the temperature level of the districts in the Tarai.”

On Monday, Bhairahawa recorded 30.8 degrees Celsius—an 11.6-degree fall from the maximum temperature of last week.

Janakpur recorded 30.4 degrees Celsius, Nepalgunj 28.5, Simara 31.6, Dhangadhi 26.1, Dipayal 25.6 and Biratnagar 30.6 degrees Celsius, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division.

The maximum temperature for Kathmandu was 18.5 degrees Celsius.

The met division officials said the maximum temperature in other parts of the country also recorded dips on Monday.

Some districts also witnessed high winds and hailstorms, which inflict damage to horticultural crops, especially mango.

Last week, the maximum temperature rose by 3 degrees Celsius in most parts of the country which was higher than the average for this time of the year.

The mercury had soared to more than 40 degrees Celsius in many districts of the Tarai region, including Kapilvastu, Rupandehi, Parsa, Bara, Sarlahi, Dhanusha, Saptari and Siraha. Hot air started blowing after 10 in the morning, which made the lives of people residing in those places difficult.

The met office had forecast mild to moderate type of heat waves in some districts and extreme heat waves in some places. Lack of rainfall for a long time triggered incidents of forest fires and that had led to a general deterioration in the air quality. Smoke and haze covering the Kathmandu Valley and other places in the country affected many flights of the domestic airlines.

AQ AirVisual, a Swiss group that collects air-quality data from around the world, ranked Kathmandu as the most polluted city in the world, last week.

The rainfall started on Sunday evening and it was credited to the western disturbances. That helped in lessening incidents of forest fires and gave respite from air pollution too.

“Weather will improve from Tuesday, but another system will cause rainfall again after two days,” said Manandhar. “Frequent pre-monsoon rainfall helps in lowering temperature levels, which will bring respite from the heat.”

Met officials said that a light spell of rain along with lightning is very likely on Monday night in some parts of the hilly areas of Lumbini, Gandaki, Karnali, Sudurpaschim, Bagmati and Koshi Provinces.

Meanwhile, Nepal is likely to witness below-normal rainfall in the monsoon season due to El Nino conditions and climatic patterns in which the surface water warms, unusually.

“We are still working to prepare an outlook for the upcoming monsoon,” said Dr Indira Kandel, a senior divisional meteorologist at the Climate Analysis Section under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. “El Nino conditions could cause below-normal rainfall during monsoon.”