Rainy forecast for May long weekend
Posted May 16, 2011 05:11:45 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canadians planning camping trips, a few days at the cottage or a backyard BBQ over the pending May long weekend may be carrying out those plans with umbrellas and rainboots as a stubborn rain system continues to hover over the Maritimes.
The month of May has been dominated by wet, cool weather and forecasters say it may not let up for weeks.
“I think we’ll have to wait for June before things really do start to break,” News 95.7 meterologist Richard Zurawski said Monday. “At least for the next week, we’re not going to see anything that will be approaching what we’d like to see for this time of year.”
Environment Canada’s seven-day forecast is predicting rain for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with sun and cloud on Thursday and more rain for Friday and the weekend.
The Weather Network’s long-range forecast is predicting rain on the weekend, then spots of rain through to the end of May.
“The weather is a bit bizarre,” said Zurawski. “I think we can be forgiven for whining a bit, because this spring is not our typical spring. We’re not getting as much sunshine as should be getting.”
Zurawski explains a quasi-stationary, low-pressure system, which is part of a classic omega block, is hovering over the Maritimes.
“It’s called an omega block because if you look at the weather systems they look like the Greek letter Omega,” he said. “This low-pressure system is just off shore and it’s not moving. It’s not filling in at all. It’s backing up and they’re getting heavy rainfall right into southern Ontario.”
While northern Ontario had a few flakes of snow over the weekend, Europe is experiencing summer-like conditions.
