Several districts of the country’s southern belt especially in the Madhesh Province witnessed heavy rainfall accompanied by lightning and thunderstorms on Sunday, the Meteorological Forecasting Division under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, said.

According to the data provided by the division, Bara district of Madhesh Province recorded 106 mm of rainfall within a 24-hour period until Sunday afternoon, while Saptatri and Morang districts witnessed 105 mm, 101 mm of rainfall, respectively.

Rainfall above 100 millimetres is categorised as very heavy rainfall by the division.

Similarly, several districts of other provinces–Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini–witnessed heavy rainfall, which is 50 to 100 millimetres.

The division said Ilam of Koshi Province recorded 96 mm of rainfall, Okhaldhunga 66 mm, Sankhuwasabha 59 mm, Nawalparasi 96 mm, Palpa 87 mm, and Rupandehi saw 55 mm of rainfall.

Similarly, Babarmahal of Kathmandu recorded 7.4 mm, Kirtipur 14.2 mm, Budhanilkantha 9.4 mm, and Dhap dam at the Shivapuri station of the met office recorded 19.6 mm rainfall within 24 hours until Sunday afternoon.

“Many places in Koshi, Madhesh, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini provinces witnessed rainfall on Sunday,” said Sanjeev Adhikari, a meteorologist at the division. “Districts of Tarai region of the said provinces have also recorded rainfall on Sunday.”

A low-pressure area formed near Bihar of India, combined with moisture entering the country from the Bay of Bengal and the local convective system, has been causing rainfall in Nepal for around a week, met officials say.

They say the country will witness light to moderate rainfall on Sunday night and Monday.

According to an alert issued by the division, Madhesh, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces will remain partly to generally cloudy on Sunday night and partly cloudy in the rest of the country. Light to moderate rain with thunder, lightning and gusty wind is likely to occur at a few places of Koshi, Madhesh, Bagmati, Gandaki provinces and at one to two places of hilly regions of Karnali Province.

Weather remains partly to generally cloudy throughout the country on Monday. Light to moderate rain with thunder, lightning and gusty wind is likely to occur at a few places of hilly regions of the country and at one or two places of Madhesh Province and Tarai regions of Koshi Province and Lumbini Province. There are chances of light snowfall at one or two places of the high hilly and mountainous region of Koshi Province, Gandaki Province and Karnali Province, according to forecast.

“From tomorrow, the system responsible for the rainfall will gradually weaken,” said Adhikari. “Some places of the Terai region and other parts of the country will witness rainfall on Monday as well, but only a few places of hilly and mountainous areas will witness rainfall on Tuesday.”

Weather stations in Sudurpaschim Province did not record rainfall on Sunday.

Nepal is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the climate crisis and has witnessed extreme weather events over the past decade and a half.

The average annual maximum temperature of Nepal has risen by 0.056 degrees Celsius, according to a study conducted by the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology in 2017. The study shows most districts witnessed increasing temperatures annually.