Rainy & cooler weather for the weekend in Montreal

A water bomber fighting forest fires north of Montreal. An outdoor burning ban remain in effect across Quebec. It remains critically dry in many regions, with only a trace of rain this month in Metro-Montreal. (CBC News).

We managed to squeeze out two more decent days this week as the very dry and warm weather continues across southern Quebec and eastern Ontario. The showers and thunderstorms yesterday remained either north of the St. Lawrence Valley or well southeast of us. I manged to record around 1mm of rainfall, the first measurable precipitation this month here on LÌle Perrot and really just a splash in the rain gauge. That will change tonight as low pressure develops in the Midwest and moves along a cold front into Quebec. The combination of the two will produce a soaking rain from late tonight into Saturday. Much needed amounts of rain are forecast with up to 50mm (2 inches) north and east of Montreal and 25mm (1 inch) in the city. These amounts may be higher locally, as some thunderstorms are possible Saturday especially in the St. Lawrence Valley. The warm weather of late will go away for a little while as temperatures drop from the upper 20`s to below normal with highs of only 15C on Saturday and 11C on Mother`s Day.

Warmer weather is forecast for next week as high pressure moves in once again. It will not be as warm as this week has been with highs in the upper 20`s and one record high on Wednesday when the mercury hit 29C in Montreal surpassing the 27C high set in 1979. The rain and cooler weather will be welcome by firefighters who continue to battle over a dozen forest fires in Quebec. The total in 2013 is 167 so far, well above normal, and a burn ban remains in effect until further notice across the province. This is especially critical here in the south.