Met officials on Thursday claimed that a low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal was likely to cause heavy rain starting July 20.

Patna and many other parts of Bihar have witnessed light to moderate rain over the past couple of days owing to a depression moving from coastal Bengal to Chhattisgarh via Jharkhand.

Though the system has moved away from Bihar leading to reduced rainfall expected over the next couple of days, weathermen are expecting another spell of showers in the next week. Ashish Sen, director, Patna Meteorological Centre, claimed that the rain on Thursday was concentrated in south Bihar as the depression was moving towards Chhattisgarh via Jharkhand. Images from Kalpana-I satellite showed convective clouds over most parts of south Bihar on Thursday.

"As the system has moved away from Bihar, we do not expect much rainfall in the state over the next two-three days. Partly cloudy skies with light showers might occur in an isolated manner in the state owing to the moisture brought by the depression," said Sen.

The showers were also accompanied by gusty winds blowing at an average speed of 20kmph, which went up to 30kmph. The winds led to trees falling at a few places, including Hardinge Road at Patna, where a tree fell in the middle of the road.

While the depression has made southwest monsoon active in the region, the rainfall deficiency in Bihar still stands at 14 per cent. The state has received 586.6mm rainfall from June 1 till date, against the corresponding normal of 682mm. The rainfall deficiency in Patna on the other hand stands at 25 per cent.

The monsoon officially arrived in Bihar on June 17 - following a delay of seven days from its expected onset date - and reached Patna by June 19. As on date, 16 districts have received normal rainfall (+/-19 per cent), 18 districts have received deficient rainfall (-20 to -59 per cent) and only four districts have received surplus rainfall (+19 per cent and above) till date.

Met director Sen claimed that Bihar is expected to receive 1-2 per cent above normal rainfall in August. The rainfall in August is also considered crucial for transplantation of paddy saplings and tillers are delighted with the ongoing spell of showers.

"The showers around this time are highly beneficial for farmers as it is almost the end of the transplantation phase. Many farmers who had sown paddy seedlings quite late are also able to do transplantation owing to the frequent showers. The showers have added to the humidity in the soil and helped sustain farming for the next 10 days," said Sudhanshu Kumar, a farmer at Samastipur.

Paddy is the main crop of the kharif or monsoon season in Bihar and sowing of its seeds starts mostly from early June and continues till the end of the month. Paddy transplantation is feasible from the beginning of July to mid-August. According to practices in paddy cultivation, once the seedlings are grown into saplings, they are transplanted from the nurseries to the fields.