Bright outlook, but more weekend rain forecast
While winter’s presence becomes less and less through April, it’s still lingering.
There was a chance of flurries forecast last night in eastern Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and a retrograding area of low pressure will bring a mixture of rain and wet snow to parts of central and eastern Newfoundland this afternoon and tonight, easing to lighter rain showers and flurries on Friday.
Snowfall amounts for parts of Bonavista North to Notre Dame Bay and the Baie Verte peninsula could range from five to 10 cm, with 10 to 20 cm possible, especially around Notre Dame Bay and higher elevations.
Otherwise, the rest of central and eastern Newfoundland could see two to five-plus centimetres over higher elevations with lower-to-no accumulations right at sea level.
Northerly wind gusts between 60 and 80 km/h are forecast for most of Newfoundland, with gusts of 30 to 60 km/h across the Maritimes.
Speaking of the Maritimes, the arrival of high pressure will serve up brighter skies. That can’t be said for the entire weekend though, as a trough of low- pressure and its associated weather fronts will bring periods of rain developing Saturday afternoon and night, clearing out on Sunday.
The same system will also deliver mostly rain to Newfoundland Saturday night through Sunday and a mixture of rain and snow showers to Labrador.
Early model guidance indicates this shouldn’t be a major rain event for most, with two to five-plus millimetres in New Brunswick and Labrador, two to 10 mm in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and western Newfoundland with pockets of 10 to 20 mm, and some guidance indicating 20 to 40-plus mm over central and eastern Newfoundland.
A ridge of high pressure should keep our weather mostly settled for at least the first half of next week.
Temperature-wise, wind direction is critical in whether communities warmup or remain quite cool. In general, the return of a southerly flow this weekend into next week will keep temperatures near and above normal.
Despite the snow I mentioned, the overall pattern is quite spring-like.