An area of low pressure will swirl its way through the Gulf of St. Lawrence today and subsequently will push rain across the Island. The rain we are seeing will be heavy at times, and there is the chance of some embedded thunderstorms. Future Radar (below) illustrates this well.

Rainfall rates will be on the order of 25-50+ mm/hr at times, under some of the heavier rain pockets. The reasoning for that is the airmass we are in can hold an extremely high amount of water. In fact, the air over the Island has origins in the tropics.

One of the products used to determine the potential rainfall rate is called precipitable water or PWAT for short. Precipitable water or ‘PWAT’ in short, is the depth of water in a column of the atmosphere if all the water in that column were precipitated as rain. The higher the PWAT, the heavier the rain can be. And in today’s case, the rain will be very heavy at times due to extremely high PWAT values over the region.

Rainfall amounts through today will be highest over southern, central, and western sections of the Island, where locally 50+ mm of rain will fall. Farther east, the heavy rain will be more hit or miss so don’t expect widespread significant totals.

A Rainfall Warning remains in effect for much of western Newfoundland for today. You can find more info on that by clicking this link.

Temperatures on the Island today will be cooler, only reaching the teens and lower 20s. It will, however, be extremely humid today as our air has tropical origins. Humidex values will be into the mid-20s to near 30, even with the cooler highs and cloud cover.

Meanwhile, in Labrador, sunshine will be the rule for most areas north of the Stratis. Along the coast expect highs in the teens today, or lower, thanks to onshore winds. Inland, and into the west, however, it will be a different story. Some of the hottest weather this season is set to take hold, with h locations from Upper Lake Melville to the Wabush hittings in the upper 20s to lower 30s today… and for the next several.

The record high today at Wabush is 31, set on this day in 1983. So the potential is there for another record-breaking day in Labrador West.

Be sure to check back this afternoon for your next weather update!