Water levels begin to rise along the Saint John River in downtown Fredericton on April 18, 2019. (Submitted/Government of New Brunswick)
With the snow finally beginning to melt thanks to recent warmer weather, concerns are being raised about the risk of spring flooding in New Brunswick.
Weather Network meteorologist Doug Gilham believes we can expect rainfall to be slightly above normal this spring.
“But we don’t want to call it a rainy spring. We just think that a few of the systems – and it’s the time of year where we expect quite a bit of rain – they can be overachieving storms.”
Gilham notes how it’s tough to predict precipitation over the long-term as amounts can depend on the particular track of a single storm or a system with lots of moisture.
While we shouldn’t be surprised to see some localized flooding, Gilham adds there is less snow to melt this spring including in the Saint John River watershed which should help lower the threat for major flooding.
While it was relatively quiet along the Saint John River last year, historic flooding was recorded in 2018 and 2019.
