Kejimkujik area to see mostly helpful weather for fighting wildfires

As the battle against the forest fire in Seven Mile Lake, N.S., near Kejimkujikcontinues, let's take a closer look at whether the weather over the next few days willhelp the efforts of firefighters.

Winds

It's been a breezy week, whichisn't ideal for combating wildfires.

On MondaythroughWednesday, afternoon gusts occasionally reached 20 km/h to 40 km/h. Today, they are anticipated to be a bit lighter, sustained from the southwest at 10 km/h to 15 km/h. They will be slower tonightand nearly the same forFriday.

The winds have spread smoke from the wildfires across much of the southwest of Nova Scotia. Air quality statements remain in effect and the combination of smoky air,high heat and humidity could make things particularly difficult todayon those with respiratory problems.

Humidity

At the start of the week, the winds were coming in from the northwest. This was blowing drier air into the province and resulted in lower humidity levels for the Kejimkujik area. For example, the afternoon relative humidity was between 30 per cent to 40 per centMondaythroughWednesday.

Higher humidity levels are expected today, ranging from 60 per cent to 70 per cent.The more moisture there is in the air, the better it will befor combating the wildfires.

On the downside, the higher humidity will make it feel inthe mid-30 C rangetoday andFriday, making for uncomfortable conditions for those battling the fires.

Rainfall

Where's the rain?

Isolated showers are expected today, but there is no guarantee they will occur over the affected areas.

Fridayafternoon and evening, more widespread showers are in the forecast. The downside is that the showers on both days may be accompanied by lightning thatcould ignite new fires.

A further rainfall is in the forecast for the weekend, timed for lateSaturdayintoSundaymorning, which could produce more widespread rainfall amounts exceeding 10 mm. The weekend temperatures are also cooler, in the low-to-mid-20 C range. That's a forecast that could help significantly.