KATHMANDU: Although June 10 is the usual date for the onset of monsoon in Nepal, weathermen clarified that this year it braced the country early.

According to Keshav Das Shrestha, senior divisional meteorologist at Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD) under Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, monsoon has already come into sight in eastern Nepal. "Severe cyclonic storms raised in the coast of the Bay of Bengal were the only reason for the early onset of monsoon in Nepal", he reasoned. Strong winds and heavy rains from Cyclone Alia on Monday had lashed West Bengal in eastern India and neighbouring Bangladesh killing dozens of people there.

Meteorologist Shrestha, however, forecast that torrential rain in eastern Nepal would gradually begin to weaken by Wednesday. "Westerly winds have nothing to do with the ongoing rainfall across the country. It is the outcome of Cyclone Alia", he explained, adding that the western and far-western parts received no major impact of the rainfall. Das also forecast that weather conditions would improve by Tuesday evening or Wednesday.

The rainfall coming after a long dry spell is a great relief to the people, especially the farmers. Inadequate rainfall for the past few weeks had posed a grave threat to public health and crop cultivation in many parts of the country. Dharan was the single largest place to gauge the highest rainfall with 91.2 mm in the last 24 hours. Kathmandu received a record 40.3 mm rainfall this month so far.

The early monsoon is expected to bring smiles to the faces of farmers throughout the country prior to the paddy planting season. As irrigation facility is available to only 21 per cent of the total arable land in Nepal, a majority of the farmers have to wait for the monsoon to engage in paddy plantation that requires plenty of water. According to statistics provided by Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, about 75 per cent of rain falls during the monsoon (June to September) and about 10 per cent during the winter season.