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Fallen branches, power outages possible for Metro Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­as wind event approaches

Monday afternoon may see thunderstorms
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Vancouver's forecast shows plenty of rain is on the way.

Heavy rain and winds are returning to Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­this week after a long period without much of either.

A system moving into the south coast Sunday evening will bring up to 40 mm of rain and winds gusting to 50 km/m to parts of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­and the metro region Environment Canada meteorologist Yimei Li tells V.I.A.

Along with the storm system, there could be thundershowers.

"Because there's a chance of thunderstorms for tomorrow afternoon, that could cause heavier amounts of rain in isolated areas," she adds.

While the storm won't be particularly strong, she notes that it could still cause some issues for the region. Due to the drought-like conditions and how early in the fall season the storm is, there's a concern about large falling branches.

Since it's the first wind event of the season after a relatively calm summer, trees currently have a lot of leaves. Because of this, they'll be heavier and more likely to catch rain and wind. On top of that, the drought over the summer may have weekend their strength, resulting in more falling branches than a similar storm in January or March.

While the wind is likely to only gust to 50 km/h in Metro Vancouver, areas closer to the coast and Straight of Georgia may see higher winds.

Along with the wind, there'll be a significant but not a huge amount of rain this week. The majority will fall as part of the initial system that'll arrive Sunday night and leave Tuesday early morning, but showers and periods of rain could remain throughout the week. Wednesday there should be a small break, but a weak system is expected on Thursday.

"It'll be pretty wet for one day but nothing too extraordinary," says Li.

Normally in September Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­could see 51 mm of rain at the airport and more than 73 mm at the harbour; this upcoming week could see that fall over five days. Li notes that often September sees heavier rain at the end of the month, as the end of summer at the beginning of the month is usually dry.

However, she adds that does mean Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­is entering the rainy season.

The current Weatherhood forecast shows Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­neighbourhoods have a 99 per cent chance of precipitation the first few days this week. By Thursday it'll drop to a 91 to 83 per cent chance, further dropping to 31 per cent by Saturday.