Fall storm set to bring rain and wind to the Maritimes this weekend

Cloudy across the Maritimes Cloudy skies and gusty winds will continue through the end of this week in the Maritimes.

Cloudy sky and a gusty northerly wind prevail through the end of this week. A fall storm brings a risk of heavy rain and high wind to the region this weekend.

Weekend storm

A low-pressure system developing in the northeastern United States is expected to move into the Maritimes Saturday.

Another slow mover it will have lingering impacts on weather through Sunday as it moves to position over the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Primarily a rain and wind event, some wet snow may mix in for areas of New Brunswick Saturday night into early Sunday morning.

The centre of the storm is then expected to meander across Newfoundland on Monday. Gusty winds and showers may linger on Monday for Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton.

Rain outlook

Areas of light rain and showers on the region Friday may produce some totals of 5 to 15 mm.

Steadier, even heavy at times, rain arrives across Nova Scotia by early Saturday morning, with rain developing across the region through the day. While becoming lighter on Sunday, further areas of rain and showers are expected.

A general rainfall of 20 to 60 mm looks likely. Rain amounts may be lower in parts of western New Brunswick. Downpours could push totals higher in a few spots. Areas at risk of downpours include southeastern New Brunswick, eastern and southwestern Nova Scotia, as well as Prince Edward Island.

Wind and wave outlook

A northeast wind will increase across the Maritimes Friday night into Saturday morning. Peak gusts on Saturday in the Halifax east area to Cape Breton could reach 70 to 90 km/h. Due to the topography of the Highlands, northern Inverness County in Cape Breton would be at risk of gusts exceeding 100 km/h.

Prince Edward Island and the Acadian Peninsula of New Brunswick could also reach gusts of 70 to 90 km/h. The remainder of the Maritimes will see gusts mostly 40 to 70 km/h.

Because this is a slow-moving weather system, lingering gusty winds are expected Saturday night through Sunday. The wind direction would change to become west and northwest but the gusts remain 50 to 70 km/h. The gusts would then fall into a range of 30 to 50 km/h by Monday morning.

Like previous high wind events, disruptions to some of the travel services in the region should be watched for. Marine Atlantic Ferries already advising that weekend sailings could be impacted between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

A rough and pounding coastal surf would accompany the high wind on the weekend. That will develop Halifax County and east along the Atlantic coastline of Nova Scotia Saturday morning and may persist through Sunday. Large crashing waves may also be present on the northern coastline of Prince Edward Island and the Acadian Peninsula of New Brunswick on Saturday. Wave action should be diminished by Monday morning.