Capital expecting more rainfall

KATHMANDU: A day after snowfall in many parts of the country, including the Kathmandu Valley, weather conditions returned to normal today. However, weathermen don’t rule out chances of more rainfall in the next few days.

Meteorologists have predicted that weather conditions won’t be as harsh as the westerly wind system — that brought the snow and rainfall on Sunday in the western, eastern and central region — ended today but added that another system may develop after a few days.

“Weather is a dynamic process, and forecasting for far ahead with precision is hard. However, conditions for rainfall are favourable,” said Rajendra Shrestha, Senior Meteorologist at Meteorological Forecasting Division, which does the forecasting for 24 hours of weather conditions.

The global weather forecasting agencies like AccuWeather have predicted that Kathmandu will have a largely fair weather except on Tuesday night when it has predicted rainfall.

According to weather forecast in the BBC, Tuesday and Wednesday will be partly cloudy with the possibility of heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday.

The system develops quickly and doesn’t stay for long, unlike during the monsoons. “The flow of wind system that brings the cloud occurs from the high-pressure zone to low-pressure zone. The condition is quite favourable, and we can expect rainfall in a few days again,” said climate expert Ngamindra Dahal.

According to Dahal, this winter received a good rainfall unlike in the past years. Nepal receives very less rainfall during winter though it is very essential from the agricultural point of view.

Winter in 2006 was totally dry, 2007 received snowfall even in the Kathmandu Valley after 62 years, but it was a late winter rainfall in mid-February. “The winter in 2009 was again totally dry, but this winter is getting good rain as December and January have already received rainfall and more is expected,” added Dahal.

The westerly wind system developed from the Mediterranean Sea brings the rainfall if it enters Nepal but the system doesn’t enter the country every year, as it needs favorable climatic conditions.

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