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Rainy June typical in our region

Cool, wet West Coast weather seems to be straddling the Rockies and settling over Central Alberta.
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A truck passes through a large pool of water on Herder Drive in Sylvan Lake Thursday.

Cool, wet West Coast weather seems to be straddling the Rockies and settling over Central Alberta.

While rainy Junes are an expected entry into our summers — farmers couldn’t produce good crops without them — this June is definitely cooler and rainier than normal.

According to Environment Canada, the Red Deer area has been plagued by the same system of Pacific lows that’s been drizzling on Vancouverites all spring. “The forecast for Vancouver is similar to Edmonton and Red Deer — which isn’t that usual,” said John McIntyre, a Vancouver-based meteorologist.

Besides a few short, sunny breaks, almost steady rain has been falling here since the last half of May.

The Red Deer area received 78.4 mm of precipitation last month, compared to the May average of 51 mm. And the first 10 days of June have brought us nearly all the rain that’s generally supposed to fall this month.

By the end of Thursday, a total of 82.4 mm of precipitation was expected to have fallen on Red Deer, compared to the average of 92 mm for the whole of June, said McIntyre. Temperatures are also a few degrees below normal, so far averaging at 18C, compared to the usual June average of 20C.

While the sun should come out today to warm things up for the weekend (the forecast high for Saturday is 23C, and Sunday, 25C), another low pressure system is anticipated for early next week.

This could mean yet more showers starting on Monday, said McIntyre. But instead of focusing on this gloomy prospect, he advises area residents to enjoy the sunny, warm weekend ahead.

“It’ll be a nice stretch of days . . . a high pressure ridge is expected to start clearing things up tonight,” he said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Environment Canada put out a high-stream-flow advisory for the Red Deer River Basin this week, warning area residents to be cautious when around the high, fast-moving river.

“We could get 60 to 80 mm of precipitation by this afternoon, so we’re expecting river levels to rise quickly,” said department spokeswoman Carrie Sancargier on Thursday. “ People should be cautious around the water’s edge.”

She added that no flooding is expected, except in low-lying areas.

lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com