Flood Watch Issued

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The Essex Region Conservation Authority has issued a flood watch due to the forecasted sudden increase in temperature and predicted rainfall amounts.

They say that in the past seven days, the Essex Region experienced some mild temperatures with a small amount of mixed precipitation. This small amount of precipitation was mostly direct runoff as the ground conditions were still relatively frozen. Temperatures have since quickly dropped below zero with much of this runoff frozen in agricultural fields. Forecasts are now predicting a quick rise in temperature on Wednesday into Thursday, with temperatures potentially reaching roughly 10 degrees Celsius. These conditions are expected to quickly melt the remaining ice and snow. At the same time, forecasts are predicting as much 35 to 40 mm of rainfall beginning on Wednesday evening and lasting until Thursday afternoon.

This combination is expected to generate an increased amount of runoff, with standing water expected in low lying areas across the region. Surface drainage features such as roadside ditch and municipal drains may not have their full capacity available as the mixture of salt and snow can sometimes form blocks of thick ice within the drains through various freeze-thaw cycles.