Kathmandu, Feb 18 : The weather will be cloudy with light rainfall occurring at some places of the hilly region including in the Kathmandu Valley due to the influence of the Westerly wind today.

The change in weather beyond the afternoon today is attributed to the start of pre-monsoon period, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology said.  

Senior meteorologist Meen Kumar Aryal said it will be partly cloudy in the hilly region for two or three days starting from Friday but there is no possibility of heavy rainfall. 

 
According to him, the rapid change in weather takes place with the increasing influence of local wind following rise in temperature. Pre-monsoon activity generally starts from March and it goes till May. The pre-monsoon is characterized by sunny days and brief rainfall with thunder towards the afternoon or evening.    

The weather will be partly to generally cloudy in the hilly region of the country including Province no 1 and Bagmati province towards the afternoon today with chances of light rainfall at some places of the hilly region and of light snowfall at a few places of the high-hilly and mountainous region.    

The weather update issued by the Meteorological Forecasting Division states that Kathmandu Valley recorded minimum temperature of 5.0 degrees Celsius and maximum of 23.3 degrees Celsius in the last 24 hours.

Similarly, the lowest minimum temperature was recorded in Jumla at minus 3.0 degrees Celsius today.    
Forecast for Friday    
The weather will be partly to generally cloudy in the hilly region of the country including in Province no 1 and 2 with the possibility of light snowfall at one or two places of the high-hilly and mountainous region on Friday.