Reprieve expected Thursday and Friday

A11

Charles Perry

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Apart from a temporary reprieve on Thursday and Friday, Metro Moncton will find itself still locked into wet, overcast weather conditions for the next week to 10 days.

For the past two to three weeks, all of Atlantic Canada, Quebec and the New England states have received a regular diet of dismal weather, featuring rain or the threat of showers virtually every day, along with highs running about three degrees Celsius below normal.

Also, there has been little in the way of sunshine a lot of the time, notes Claude Côté of Fredericton, a meteorologist for Environment Canada.

With it now being July, when the children are home from school and families are planning vacations, he said these conditions are even more depressing.

Côté said an upper atmosphere disturbance and a very large low-pressure system at the surface level are responsible for the unsettled, unseasonable weather conditions.

Yesterday was a prime example, bringing thunder storms and downpours of rain throughout the southern and southeastern parts of the province. More than 20 millimetres (0.8 inches) fell on Metro Moncton in the early afternoon. Saint John, Point Lepreau and Grand Manan each received 30 millimetres (1.2 inches) of rain.

Southeastern New Brunswick is forecast to receive fog, showers and the risk of thundershowers, today, said Côté. This will be followed tomorrow by cloudy conditions and a good chance for more showers.

And this scenario, which has become all too familiar for Metro residents, will continue through Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It will be overcast each of those days, with the highs a few degrees below normal with a chance of showers.

But on Thursday, Côté said a high-pressure system is expected to move into the region, producing more summer-like conditions for both Thursday and Friday. Although the high will be about 21C (70F) on both days, a few degrees below the norm, no rain or chance of rain is in the forecast.

But just when it looks like Metro may have turned the corner into summer conditions, he said another low-pressure system appears to be heading this way next weekend, meaning a return to damp, cloudy conditions. AccuWeather also calls for grey skies and rainy conditions to continue in Metro Moncton through to Thursday. But they also see an improved picture for the area on Thursday and Friday, but with the chance of shower activity next weekend.

The Farmers' Almanac predicts pleasant conditions the first half of the week, but rain and possibly thundershowers the second half.

* Charles Perry's Weather appears daily.