Risk of downpours, thunderstorms Thursday evening into Friday morning in Nova Scotia

A special weather statement issued by Environment Canada Thursday for Nova Scotia calls for rain totals of 20 to 40 mm with possibly higher amounts in thunderstorms Thursday evening into Friday morning.

The statement notes, “Showers and thunderstorms are forecast to move into southwestern Nova Scotia this evening, and move east overnight” and “heavy rainfall can lead to localized flooding.”

A special weather statement issued by Environment Canada for Nova Scotia Thursday morning cautioning a risk of downpours Thursday evening and night.

Some thunderstorms are already present in the areas with showers Thursday afternoon as it moves through the state of Maine. Higher rainfall rates of 20 to 40 mm/hr are estimated on radar, but there are no signs of repeating or training thunderstorms, which was the major contributing factor to the extreme flooding in Nova Scotia Friday into Saturday. Individual thunderstorms are also moving eastward at about 40 km/h, a speed at which would prevent them from sitting over a single location, adding to rain amounts for an extended period of time.

The area of showers moving towards the Maritimes through Maine Thursday afternoon. A few thunderstorms are present within the shower in southeastern Maine.

While severe flooding or flash flooding is not expected, the rain rates in occurring thunderstorms may be high enough to produce instances of localized flash flooding. High rain rates will also reduce visibility for periods of time on the roads and create hydroplaning conditions. Bob Robichaud, a warning prepardness meteorologist with Environment Canada, adds while this would typically be a pretty standard rain event involving thunderstorms for us, the debris or weakened infrastructure from the previous flood may warrant an extra degree of caution for those travelling Thursday night while the rain is progressing through.

The risk of downpours and thunderstorms for southern New Brunswick ends near midnight. The risk of downpours and thunderstorms for Nova Scotia will end west-to-east between midnight and 6 a.m. Friday. Southwestern Nova Scotia will get out of that risk by, or shortly after, midnight, while Cape Breton will get out of the risk by, or shortly after, 6 a.m. Friday.

The risk for further thunderstorms on Friday will be in northern New Brunswick late afternoon into the evening.