Northwestern Ontario went through its first major rainstorm of the season this past weekend.
On Thursday (April 21, 2022) Environment Canada was forecasting around 30 to 50 mm of rain to fall in the Kenora area starting Friday afternoon (April 22, 2022) and continuing throughout the weekend.
Gerald Cheng, an Environment Canada Meteorologist, says the area received the rainfall amounts and more that were forecasted.
“For Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 33 mm of rain fell in Kenora and also 4 cm of snow so we had a bit of everything.”
Cheng notes that areas to the east got a lot more rain than Kenora did, with Dryden receiving 43 mm of precipitation. Sioux Lookout got hit with a little more rain as they reported 46 mm of rain throughout the weekend.
With the last couple of weeks being filled with snow, rain, and cloudy conditions, Cheng adds the weather is supposed to change to more seasonal conditions this week.
“Once we head into Tuesday we’re looking at better days to come in terms of sunshine. In terms of temperatures, we’re still stuck in this below normal pattern at least for another day. It’s mid-week when we start to get back into the seasonal territory.”
“The seasonal high around this time of year should be around 13 degrees, so if we get into the double-digit territory that’s already a win.”
Double digits highs are what’s in the forecast on Wednesday (April 27, 2022), and Thursday (April 28, 2022) with a high of 10 degrees expected. Friday is expected to be even nicer with a high of 13 degrees forecasted.
Cheng is not ruling out snow completely for the near future, as he says if we go below the seasonal overnight low of two degrees, that could cause potential rain to turn into snow.
Since January, approximately 217 cm of snow has fallen in the Kenora area. The average for the same time period is 82.7 cm. The average rainfall amounts for April are 22.4 mm.