Rain fell for the first time in months in Iran's capital Wednesday, providing a brief respite for the parched Islamic Republic as it suffers through the driest autumn in over a half century.

The drought gripping Iran has seen its president warn the country it may need to move its government out of Tehran by the end of December if there's not significant rainfall to recharge dams around the capital.

Meteorologists have described this fall as the driest in over 50 years across the country.

In Tehran, government-sponsored billboards call on the public not to use garden hoses outside to avoid waste. Water service reportedly goes out for hours in some neighborhoods of the capital, home to 10 million people.

Snowpack on the surrounding Alborz Mountains remains low as well, particularly after a summer that saw temperatures rise near 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas of the country, forcing government buildings to shut down.

World Weather Attribution, a group of international scientists who study global warming’s role in extreme weather, said the severity of drought seen in Iran over the last year can be expected to return every 10 years.

AP video by Saeed Sarmadi