SINGAPORE - The showers in the past week that offered some respite from warm and dry days are set to return in the last week of March.

Still, the warm conditions that Singapore experienced in the first two weeks of March are expected to persist another week, said the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) in a statement on Friday evening (March 15).

"Some relief from the scorching heat can be expected in the last week of the month," said the MSS.

This will be due to the monsoon rain band shifting northward to lie over Singapore and the surrounding equatorial region, bringing localised short-duration moderate to heavy thundery showers on most days in the afternoon.

On a few days that week, the thundery showers could extend into the evening.

Widespread thundery showers with occasional gusty winds from Sumatra squalls can also be expected on one or two mornings in the last week of the month, said the MSS.

While more rainfall is expected for the second fortnight of March compared to the first, the total rainfall for March 2019 is still likely to be well below normal.

This continues a trend in the past two months of significantly lower than normal rainfall.

Despite some relief, the second half of March is still expected to be warm on most days, with daily temperatures ranging between 24 deg C and 34 deg C.

On days with little or no rainfall, the daily maximum temperature could rise to around 35 deg C.

The first half of March was warm and dry in Singapore, as well as in most of South-east Asia except for areas south of the Equator, according to the MSS.

It was drier and warmer than usual here due to a mass of dry air from the Pacific Ocean that extended over the South-east Asia region.

On all days during the two weeks, the daily maximum temperature recorded was at least 34 deg C, except for March 6.

Temperatures ranged from 21.5 deg C to 35.7 deg C.

While there were several days with thundery showers, rainfall in Singapore was well below normal in the first half of March 2019.

The highest daily total rainfall of 94.6mm was recorded on March 11, and it is the highest recorded for the year so far, said the MSS.