What’s up with all the summer rain in the Halifax forecast?
iIt hasn’t been summer to hang clothes to dry. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, Halifax Stanfield International Airport had 20 days in June with at least some amount of rain. That’s second only famous frosty january (26 days of rain and snow) for precipitation in the past 12 months, and nearly the same number of overcast days as June and July combined for (21) in 2022.
All those showers add up: Halifax received 213.7 millimeters of rain in June, more than double the monthly average of 96.2 mm. And July hasn’t been much drier — in the first four days alone, Halifax has seen nearly half (43.3 mm) of the monthly precipitation average (95.5 mm) for this time of year.
“It was definitely a very wet month compared to normal,” Ian Hubbard, the meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada, tells The Coast. That’s the result of a “couple of different events,” he says: First, a low-pressure system “that got a little stuck” near the Maritimes, and more recently, a weather pattern of moisture-laden winds blowing off and across the water. Nova Scotia.
“What a low-pressure system off the coast does is it continually pumps moisture across the land — which is basically what we saw in early June,” Hubbard says.
“The wind, the precipitation, they are all connected. But if you get into a pattern where there’s not a lot of movement… and you don’t have a nice edge of high pressure with drier air pushing in, you’re basically just staying in the same situation.”
Halifax isn’t the only part of Nova Scotia to be hit, either. Yarmouth saw almost double its usual rainfall totals in June (161.7mm, compared to an average of 94.8mm). Greenwood saw even more (200.8mm, compared to an average of 81.0mm). Kejimkujik had recorded its rainiest June ever, with a deluge-like 345mm.
Hubbard says the weather itself isn’t unique, but it’s later than usual; Usually, Halifax had expected rain to come in April and May, but those months were drier than usual.
“It’s just pushed a little bit into July and the end of June — or a whole lot of June.”
Sunny days ahead, but rain will follow
If you’re waiting for a lull in the clouds, the week-end forecast should offer some brief comfort. According to Environment Canada’s projections on Thursday, Halifax could see sunshine in the morning and early afternoon, followed by a warm weekend: Friday and Saturday call for highs of 31 and 30 C, with sunny conditions. Sunday calls for a mix of sun and clouds, with a maximum temperature of 28 C.
That is expected to turn back to rain Monday and Tuesday, Hubbard says, thanks to a low-pressure area moving up the east coast.
“It’s not very strong at the moment – certainly not in terms of a very significant weather maker,” he tells The Coast, “but it’s enough that when it goes up and back off the coast a little bit, we’re going to see that it brings in moisture.
“Even on days when there might be no precipitation, if you get this easterly or southeasterly to northeasterly wind…you still get that drizzle and fog there, which helps to maintain that humidity.”
