Shailendra Dixit took full advantage of the rain on Friday and got drenched to the bone.

“I bathed in the rain. It was a great relief from the sultry conditions in the city over the past few days,” said the 38-year-old government employee who lives in the Jagdeo Path area.

The opportunity that Dixit took advantage of on Friday was a rare one this year. According to meteorological experts, Patna has received deficient rainfall in June for the second consecutive year.

Till June 28, the rainfall deficiency in the city was 27 per cent.

“The rainfall in Patna for June this year is moderately deficient. But it is better than the previous year. It would have been better if there weren’t a dry spell for a week immediately after the onset of monsoon,” said Ashish Sen, director, India Meteorological Department, Patna.

He said: “Usually, a few spells of moderate to heavy rainfall are witnessed after the advent of monsoon. However, this year, a dry spell was observed from June 19 to 26. Thus, the frequency of rainy days after the advent of the southwest monsoon in Patna has been below par. In total, there were eight rainy days in the city till now this month.”

The rainy days are a welcome change for the residents.

“With no rains over the past couple of weeks, I had started to think that we might face a drought this year. But the rains over the past three days have improved the weather conditions. Though I can’t go on morning walks because of muddy streets, I love to get up to the sound of pitter-patter,” said Pallavi Singh, a student of Magadh Mahila College.

According to the records with the Met department, prior to onset of monsoon in Bihar on June 15, it had rained only once: on June 1.

“The major contribution to the rainfall in June is from pre-monsoon thunderstorms. The significance of pre-monsoon rain can be understood by looking at the rainfall activity in June 2009. Despite the monsoon entering the state on June 29 that year, the total rainfall still stood at 90.6mm, which was only because of high pre-monsoon rain that year. However, this year, only two spells of pre-monsoon rain were recorded — on June 1 and 14, respectively. On the second day, it was only a drizzle,” said Sen.

The conditions are, however, better in the context of the past five years.

This year, the city got eight rainy days in June — the second highest number of wet days in five years since 2009. Only in 2011, did Patna get more wet days — 11.

The cumulative monsoon rainfall for the city till Friday was 89.2mm, nearly four times the precipitation received in June last year. The city was also comparatively cooler this year with the average maximum temperature for the month was 35.1°C, compared to 40.5°C in 2012.

Last year, the Met department had declared the rainfall in the city in June as the all-time lowest for the month. The total rainfall was recorded at 24.6mm, against the normal rainfall of 134.5mm for the month.

Though the rains seemed to have played truant in the city, the weather conditions look favourable for a swift recovery of monsoon during the next couple of days.

Satellite pictures on Friday afternoon showed that Bihar was surrounded by two cyclonic circulations that could lead to moderate to heavy rainfall across the state, including Patna, till July 1.

“According to images received from Kalpana 1 satellite, there is a strong cyclonic circulation over west Uttar Pradesh and another medium-intensity cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal. Bihar is expected to get moderate to heavy rainfall during next two to three days under the influence of both these systems,” said Sen.

The monsoon trough line is, at present, passing through east Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bengal. Sen claimed that such a position is favourable for monsoon rainfall in Bihar.

For residents, especially the young ones, it would be an enjoyable time.

“My daughter loves to get wet in the rain,” said Boring Road resident Neha Rai. “So do I. It is a great relief.”