HALIFAX — Parts of Atlantic Canada are facing powerful blasts of wind and tidal surges along coastal areas as a storm sweeping in from the southeast moves through the region.
Northern New Brunswick is expecting an initial layer of snow and ice pellets beginning Saturday afternoon, but the warm air associated with the system means most of the East Coast will see the snow turn to rainfall through the night.
Jean-Marc Couturier, a forecaster at Environment Canada, says the system moving in from northern New England will bring wind gusts of between 90 and 100 kilometres per hour along the coast of southwestern New Brunswick as it moves up the Bay of Fundy.
Wind warnings for gusts over 80 km/h are in effect for all of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and parts of western Newfoundland.
Couturier says the strong winds will drive large waves on coastlines, including Nova Scotia's Atlantic shore, the Acadian Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands.
The forecaster says impressions of the storm are likely to vary widely on Sunday morning.
"If you're in inland areas of the Maritimes, you'll get gusty winds, you'll get some precipitation and then probably you'll wake up tomorrow and you may say, 'That was not much of a storm,'" he said.
"But if you happen to be living along the coast somewhere, along the south shore of Nova Scotia or the Acadian Peninsula, then you're going to feel the full effect of this storm with the high winds as well as the active sea."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press
