Warm temperatures Friday could cause flooding in Waterloo region, GRCA warns

The Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) is warning warm temperatures on Friday combined with rain may lead to flooding in Waterloo region and surrounding areas.

Katelyn Lynch, the conservation authority's director, says all the melting snow will lead to rising water levels in rivers and lakes across the region. She adds the warm up is not unusual for this time of the year.

"Around the Christmas holiday, we had some mild weather and some rain which did lead to some runoff and flooding in some areas in the Grand River watershed. This event also led to ice ... on rivers and water bodies breaking up ... which further increased flooding in some areas."

She says the GRCA's most recent snow survey found that the water content in snow packs is about 150 per cent higher than usual this year.

"There was a lot of water on the landscape before we started to have this mild weather that we saw earlier this week," Lynch said.

"That mild weather also brought along rain, and with the the snow and ice blocking the storm sewers, a lot of it wasn't able to run off. So we do see a lot of wet mess stuck on the landscape and stuck on sidewalks, making things a bit messy as we're walking around."

The GRCA warns that ice on rivers, ponds and lakes becomes unstable with fluctuating temperatures.

The authority reminds people not to go out onto the ice that may be unsafe.

Warm spell is temporary

Trudy Kidd is a meteorologist with Environment Canada. She says Friday's warm temperatures, with a high of 9 C expected, are not here to stay.

She says the warmth will peak on Friday, then dip back below the freezing point by next week.

"Saturday we're slightly warmer than normal, but by Sunday we're back into the near normal normal range and into next week we'll be on the normal side of things, maybe a bit on the warm side, but Friday is really the peak of it."

She also says the warm swings in temperature we're experiencing right now are unusual, but not unheard of.

"One part of the week we're colder than normal and then another part of the week we're warmer than normal," Kidd said, reflecting on recent weather swings.

"This type of warm up it won't be record-breaking. Record-breaking [weather] for Jan. 9 would be 12.2 C. That was set in 1937."