Sunshine to bookend mid-week disturbances

Despite a few bumps in the road, the overall outlook for the final full week of April isn’t all that bad.

A ridge of high-pressure passing south and east of the region is bringing a cool start to the day but wall-to-wall sunshine for most. The exception is Labrador, where departing and approaching low-pressure systems are delivering scattered periods of snow and flurries.

This high won’t be sticking around, allowing lowpressure over the Atlantic to develop rain over the eastern half of Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland on Wednesday, with a mixture of rain and snow for Labrador.

I don’t expect this to be a major rain event for most with 10 to 20 mm possible for much of Cape Breton and Newfoundland, less to none farther west.

However, a separate low and its associated cold front will then approach and sweep through the region Wednesday night and Thursday morning. This will deliver some rain showers mixing with wet flurries or snow showers first through New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the western half of Nova Scotia, lingering over eastern Nova Scotia on Thursday.

For Newfoundland and Labrador, this low won’t have as noticeable of an impact, but will add some moisture into the backside of that first low.

I expect little-to-no accumulation, but some light local snowfall amounts – especially over higher terrain moving north and west in the region can’t be ruled out, and moderate to significant snowfall amounts could fall over Labrador.

High-pressure then returns into and for most of the upcoming weekend with a fair amount of sunshine. The timing of a possible system late weekend into next week is still unclear, but some shower chances could return in parts of the Maritimes and Labrador on Sunday and Sunday night.

Temperature-wise, our nights will be cool and on average for the rest of the month below to near normal. Except for a mid-week drop in temperatures to below normal, daytime highs will be near and above normal.

There’s no question that our weather has been more unsettled than settled the last several months, so it’s nice to see a bit more sunshine as the month winds down.