No shortage of April showers this week for the Maritimes

More April rain and showers are on the way for the Maritimes Tuesday night into Wednesday. There’s more on when and how much to expect in this update.

Rain reports

It was a soggy start to the week for the Maritimes as a weather front moved through. Much of the region picking up 5-to-15 mm of rain. That’s a light-to-moderate rainfall for the Maritimes by April standards.

As we approach the mid-point of the month, the provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island are well on their way to reaching or exceeding the April average for total precipitation. Nova Scotia is lagging a bit behind. For that province, precipitation totals are currently sitting at about 25-to-50 per cent of the monthly average.

Wet weather returns Tuesday night

More wet weather is on the way.

A low-pressure system moving out of the Great Lakes region will return rain, drizzle and fog to the Maritimes Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Western New Brunswick will get into the rain first by mid-to-late evening. The rain then spreads west-to-east. The bulk of the rain and showers will then clear east of Nova Scotia by Wednesday morning. A mostly cloudy sky and patchy showers and drizzle will linger through the day.

Temperatures in the northern and northeastern New Brunswick may fall towards zero Tuesday night. There is a chance the rain switches to a period of wet snow and ice pellets there. No significant accumulation is expected.

The amount of rain shouldn’t cause issues. There will be a general two-to-10 millimetres with isolated amounts as high as 10-to-20 mm.

It is always a good idea to keep an eye on the river systems this time of the year as the freshet continues. Checking in on River Watch New Brunswick, there aren’t any monitored areas threatening to flood as of Tuesday afternoon. Water levels are just past the advisory stage at the Gagetown site and are forecast to approach advisory level at Nashwaak (Durham Bridge) Wednesday and Thursday.

More April showers

Looking into the extended forecast, there are further periods of wet weather expected over the next several days. Another low-pressure system and weather front is expected to bring rain and showers to the Maritimes Thursday into Friday morning. Following that, a Colorado Low moving into and through Quebec is predicted to bring another weather front into the Maritimes late Sunday into Monday. More wet weather will be accompanying that system.