Parts of Ontario are approaching wettest-ever start to spring
Several regions in Ontario are accelerating toward their wettest start to spring on record
Repeated rounds of rain rolling across Ontario in recent weeks have pushed the limits of how much precipitation we typically see around this time of year.
Several spots are rapidly approaching their wettest start to spring on record, racking up truly impressive rainfall totals over the past month and a half.
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Widespread flood warnings persist this weekend
A patchwork of flood warnings crisscrossed central, southern, and eastern sections of the province this weekend as enhanced rainfall and rapid snowmelt have contributed to severe flooding throughout portions of Ontario.
The Ottawa River system is stressed, including Pembroke, North Bay-Upper Ottawa, Lower Trent, and South Nation. The provincial hotspot for flooding has been the Muskoka-Trent-Severn and Algonquin corridors.
Northeastern Ontario also continues to deal with a snowmelt-driven surge of floodwaters, where the spring melt and heavy rainfall have overlapped one another.
Continued downstream impacts are likely in the days to come.
Record to near-record rains have fallen so far
North Bay has seen 106 mm of rain in the past seven days, which is roughly how much the community averages between January and April combined.
Barrie picked up 92 mm of rain over the same period, which would be a typical amount for September, which is the city’s wettest month of the year.
Since the beginning of March, Toronto-Pearson Airport has recorded 180 mm of rain, making it the fifth-wettest March/April on record. The site only needs 22.8 mm of rain to beat the 202.7 mm record for the period set back in 1991.
Wiarton has already broken the record for most rain recorded in March/April combined, with 247.2 mm through the middle of this month besting last year’s record of 235.2 mm.
With 12 days left to go in April, more showers are likely to traverse the region before the end of the month. However, a much-needed drying trend is on the horizon.