Sask. braces for heavy rainfall, especially in the southwest

Grab your umbrella, it sounds like there will be some stormy and showery conditions over the next couple of days in parts of Saskatchewan.

“This is quite a bit of rain for any time of year,” said Environment Canada Meteorologist Justin Shaer.

The southwest corner of the province is expected to get 50 to 100 millimetres — or 2 to 4 inches —  of rain, from now into Thursday morning.

“Especially over the Cypress Hills, just with the higher terrain, that does create some interactions. You get kind of more atmospheric lift, more precipitation will occur there.”

Shaer said that areas around Leader, Swift Current and Kindersley are also expected to see significant rainfall over the next two days.

However, a lot less rain is expected in Regina and Saskatoon.

In the Queen City, around 10 to 20 millimetres — or less than an inch — of rain is expected to fall over the next couple of days.

Saskatoon is expected to see more, with up to 25 to 35 millimetres — or around an inch — of rain.

Shaer explained that with this system moving through, conditions will be quite variable over short distances.

“Just the just the nature of the showery weather and thunderstorms, you can have pockets where kind of one bubble goes up, and there’s nothing really beside it; and then if you’re under those thunderstorms, it’s going to be quite a heavy downpour.”

The rain is not the news many farmers want to hear during harvest.

“If you’re not wanting rain, then, no, this is absolutely not going to be a good thing for harvest right now; typically, I’ve always heard a bit of a drier September into October would be more ideal,” said Shaer.