At a time when the ongoing movement for democracy is heating up every day, the unexpected pre-monsoon rain over the last two days has cooled the weather around the country.

Talking to Nepalnews on Tuesday, senior divisional meteorologist K. D Shrestha at the weather forecasting division of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology said the rain was due to the activation of west winds, also called westerlies, that starts from east Europe.

He said, the weather will be clear in the western region by Wednesday evening whereas it will take one more day to be clear in the eastern region.

The westerlies is the regular wind in Nepal before monsoon starts, he said.

The wind has been active in central hilly region of the country with highest rainfall recorded in Arghakhachi district. The district received 65.38 mm of rainfall within the last two days.

According to department of meteorology, Dadeldhura in the far west received 15.6 mm of rainfall and Pokhara received 2 mm. In Kathmandu, the rainfall was recorded at 34.7 mm while it is only 3.4 mm in the eastern town of Biratnagar.

Monsoon, with winds from Bay of Bengal, general begins in Nepal by mid May. nepalnews.com ia Apr 18 06