With five days still left in the month, and more moisture in the forecast, Environment Canada has confirmed a record-setting April in terms of precipitation.
Like the majority of the winter, April has been filled with a significant amount of both rain and snow.
Steven Flisfeder, an Environment Canada Meteorologist says that the Kenora area has seen a combined 99.3 mm of both rain and snow in April.
“The total precipitation when you convert it all to liquid precipitation does make this the most precipitist (sic) April so far. That breaks the old record of 95.5 mm set back in 1957.”
With all the snow alone that the area has received so far this month, Flisfeder says in terms of the snowfall amounts for April, Kenora has broken a 62-year-old record.
“A total of 66.8 cm for the month of April so far, breaking the old record of 51.2 cm set back in 1960,” says Flisfeder.
The majority of that snow came between April 13-14, 2022, as a Colorado Low barreled through the area bringing with it 24 cm of snow.
So far in April, the area has seen 39.8 mm of rain, which isn’t a record but Flisfeder notes it’s still in the top 20 all-time for amounts seen in the month.
“Rainfall so far this is number 16 in the tops, with 39.8 mm so far. The top rainfall for April is 92.8 mm, set back in 1986.”
Most of the rain seen in April fell last weekend, as another Colorado Low came through the region that brought 33 mm, along with about 4 cm of snow on Sunday (April 24, 2022).
The amounts for the month of April are way above averages usually seen. The average rainfall amount for April is 22.4 mm, with and an average snowfall of 14.6 cm, so it’s safe to say we’ve blown those out of the water.
All this precipitation has caused concerns for the water levels in the area as well. Staff with the Lake of the Woods Control Board say water levels on Lake of the Woods are expected to rise by another 6 inches or so today, after authorizing additional outflow increases.
As of April 22, Lake of the Woods was in its 50th percentile level for this time of the year after rising 4 inches before Friday. But levels rose by another 6 inches that afternoon after the board authorized outflow increases after recent precipitation.
Following Monday (April 26, 2022), the board says levels on the Winnipeg River are expected to be at high levels for the end of April, comparable to a moderately high June level. Staff adds that extra caution should be taken when on or near water bodies across the region due to the potential for rapidly changing flow conditions.
More rain is expected to continue into this weekend with the chance of showers forecasted for Thursday (April 28, 2022) through until Sunday (May 1, 2022).
Though temperatures aren’t favourable for Tuesday (April 26, 2022), as they are expected to be well below zero overnight, Flisfder says that will change on Wednesday (April 27, 2022).
“Tomorrow it will be sunny and a high of seven degrees, so still below the seasonal norm for this time of the year, but it will definitely be a reprieve compared to the last couple of days.”
He concludes by saying that moving in later into the week the temperatures are going to in and around the daytime high averages for this time of the year. The average daytime high for April is 9.4 degrees, with an average low of -1.3 degrees.