An area of high pressure will keep the weather quiet, clear, and cool overnight across much of the Province. This high brought a near-cloudless Thursday to many areas of Newfoundland and portions of eastern Labrador. This was the view from NASA’s Terra/Modis satellite of the Province earlier today.

Do you notice that white stuff in the Gulf of St. Lawrence? That’s sea ice and it looks like its packed in quite tightly along the Newfoundland side of the Straits. This is largely due to several days of northerly flow which pushes the ice to the Island side. Over the next few days, the wind direction will become more southerly, which should push the ice off the shores of Newfoundland and back towards Labrador and likely back out of the Gulf into the North Atlantic.

The pattern change that will improve the ice conditions, will also send in much warmer air to the Province. Over the next few days, we will see lower single digits replaced with upper single digits and lower teens. We can thank this to a low going to our west and a high to our to our southeast. The flow between the two is southerly. Sadly, with this warm-up, there will be a chance for rain. Initially, those chances will be over western Newfoundland and parts of Labrador Friday, and then over more of the Island Saturday into Sunday. At this point, I’ll happily take the rain with the warmth.

Rainfall will be highest over southern area of the Island, where over 50 mm is possible between tomorrow and Sunday. Rainfall amounts will be a bit lower elsewhere. Or so it looks now. This does appear to be a weather pattern that may overproduce in the rain department– meaning there may be more than forecast based on the setup. I do expect some weather alerts to be issued by the Environment and Climate Change Canada Weather Office in Gander for the time frame.

Be sure to check back for details over the next few days!