Some rain — not a lot — on the way as northern Manitoba fire-threatened communities remain on edge

The mayor of Manitoba's largest northern community is looking forward to rain in the forecast for fire-threatened communities — though the question of how much rain, and whether it will make a significant impact, is unclear.

Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook said cooler temperatures and precipitation on the way could make the next couple days a little less tense in and around the city, where fire crews continue to monitor numerous adjacent fires. 

"Right now we're looking OK, moderately optimistic that we're OK, but … there's four to five new fires everyday day starting with lightning strikes and that, so we definitely aren't out of the woods yet," Smook told CBC News Wednesday morning.

Thompson, Flin Flon and the Island Lake region, as well as down through Nopiming and Whiteshell provincial parks in eastern Manitoba, will get scattered showers in the next couple days, said Environment Canada meteorologist Crawford Luke.

A low pressure system moving through Manitoba will mean most parts of the province will get five to 10 millimetres of rain, he said.

"It looks like pretty much everywhere in Manitoba is set to get into some sort of rain and then looks like we cool down behind this system into the weekend and into early next week," Luke said. 

"I assume [fire-threatened communities] would want more rain than that, but I also assume they'll take any rain they can get."

CBC Manitoba weather specialist Riley Laychuk said scattered showers are expected for The Pas, Norway House and north through the day Wednesday.

"Accumulation will be pretty scattered in nature into early Thursday morning, from next to nothing in Lynn Lake up to around 5 to 10 millimetres into Gillam and Shamattawa," he said. "However, a risk of thundershowers could bring some heavier, but fairly localized, rainfall through the afternoon and evening."

Manitoba remains under a provincial state of emergency amid the worst wildfire season in about 30 years.

Several northern communities continue to face the possibility of further evacuation, though Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation was able to pause its evacuations this week due to improving conditions. About 2,500 were forced to leave for Winnipeg over the weekend.

Leaf Rapids and Thompson remain under local states of emergency, with Winnipeg, Thompson and other parts of Manitoba recently breaking local records for smokiest summer ever.

Smook said the northern city recently extended its local state of emergency by a month to Sept. 4. One thing that does is require people to be prepared to evacuate with 24 hours of advance notice.

"We've been on edge because you're basically under a state of emergency that you could have to evacuate at any given time, so everybody has had to be ready and on their toes," she said.

Smook isn't optimistic the coming cool temperatures and scattered showers will be cool or concentrated enough to make a huge dent, but said any bit of rain helps crews fighting fires.

"I don't think it's going to make enough of a difference," she said. "Everyday that [the weather] gives us a break we're doing stuff to make us safer."

Find the latest wildfire information at these sources:

• Canadian wildfire map
• Province of Manitoba fire bulletins
• CBC's wildfire tracker
• Communities under evacuations in Manitoba

Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email 211mb@findhelp.ca.