Weekend Update

Smoke from BC forest fires reduces visibility in Edmonton yesterday.
(Edmonton Journal Photo)

A bizarre day yesterday in Montreal. A cold front to our west had abundant moisture and a line of fairly intense thunderstorms as it was approaching the St. Lawrence Valley and into southern Quebec. Then as if a switch had been activated, they dissipated rapidly. Such is the nature of weather. The front went through Montreal with a wind shift and a sprinkle or two, but little else. This was a far cry from the strong winds and heavy rain as the front raced across Ontario.

The weekend will be 50/50. Saturday will be sunny and September like with temperatures around 23C after overnight lows in the chilly 10C range. Sunday will be showery with and increasing risk of thunderstorms and perhaps some steady rain by late afternoon. Low pressure will be moving east form the Great Lakes and will tap into some southern moisture. Early estimates are for 25-50mm of rain across northern New York, Vermont and the St. Lawrence Valley. We will have to wait and see.

In western Canada air quality has become rather poor in Saskatchewan and Alberta as a result of forest fires in BC's interior. The smoke is drifting southeastward across the Prairies, and has reduced visibility to under a kilometre in many places including Edmonton, Calgary and Saskatoon and produced very poor air quality. The smoke should begin to lift and air quality improve this weekend.

**Tropical Update: An area of disturbed weather in the far eastern Atlantic is being closely monitored today. It appears as we head into the heart of hurricane season, late August through September, we may have our next hurricane, Danielle by early next week. Stay tuned and be sure to check for updates using the links on the left side of the blog at Accu-Weather or hurricanecity.