Brace yourself, Alberta: it’s gearing up to be another wet weekend.
“Another round of rain is expected,” said Global News weather specialist Phil Darlington.
The rain is forecast to begin Friday evening and carry on through Sunday.
“Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued a special weather statement for Edmonton and other parts of central Alberta, as a possible 30-60 mm may fall in the coming days.”
While that amount on its own wouldn’t normally be too concerning, it hasn’t been a normal June.
Edmonton, on average, gets around 70 mm of rain in June — but this year, 203 mm has fallen so far in the city.
Alberta Environment river forecasters noted the widespread precipitation from June 19 through to June 22 dropped 40 to 60 mm of rain across a large area stretching from Grande Cache down to Nordegg across to Bindloss and up to Cold Lake.
The regions surrounding Whitecourt and Edmonton have received 80 to 100 mm, while 125 mm was recorded in Stony Plain and areas south of Stony Plain.
It has been the second-wettest June on record for Edmonton and could potentially become the worst ever — the wettest June ever was in 1914, when 216.5 mm was recorded, Darlington said.
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With the ground already saturated from the storm last weekend and with rainfall totals for the month of June well-above normal, Environment Canada said additional rain will increase the risk of overland flooding, washouts and potential impacts to infrastructure.
The special weather statement issued Wednesday encompassed central Alberta surrounding Edmonton, stretching from Edson and Fox Creek in the west to the Saskatchewan border in the east, and Athabasca and Lac La Biche in the north to Rimbey, Wetaskiwin and the Highway 14 and 13 corridors in the south.
Environment Canada said it is still working to determine what areas will be most impacted by the upcoming rainfall.
“The area of heaviest rain is forecast to fall in a narrow band, which could lead to more localized impacts than we observed last weekend,” the national weather agency said.
“The area will become clearer as the system approaches later this week.”
Rural regions around Edmonton are still dealing with overland flooding from last weekend — Lac Ste. Anne County, Beaver County and Tofield all still have active Alberta Emergency Alerts, issued Sunday as a deluge flooded fields, roads and basements.
Meanwhile, several river basins are flowing above normal, including the North Saskatchewan River, Red Deer River, Battle River, Beaver River, Athabasca River, Peace River and Hay River.
High streamflow advisories are in effect, including through Edmonton, where the river is still flowing higher and faster than normal.
Now is the time to prepare for the coming precipitation, Environment Canada said.
The special weather statement issued on Wednesday will likely be updated later this week to include more information as meteorologists become more confident of what areas will be most impacted.
Relief doesn’t appear to be in sight any time soon.
Another system is also forecast Sunday night into early next week that may bring additional heavy rainfall to vulnerable areas of central Alberta, Environment Canada said.
As of this past Monday afternoon, the intense weather system that brought widespread heavy rainfall to areas of northern and central Alberta over the weekend of June 20 and 21 dropped the following amounts of rain in millimetres:
Elk Island National Park: 140
Stony Plain: 126
Edmonton (city): 102
Edmonton (airport): 78
Villeneuve: 97
Barrhead: 89
Camrose: 70
Hendrickson Creek: 51
Edson: 49
Lacombe: 49
Vegreville: 45
Whitecourt: 44
Nordegg: 44
Red Deer: 42
Wainwright: 41
Lac La Biche: 35
Lloydminster: 34
Slave Lake: 29
Rocky Mountain House: 23
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