Hurricane Earl expected to bring a wet, windy weekend to southeastern Newfoundland
A Category 2 hurricane currently blasting through the Atlantic Ocean east of Bermuda will encroach on parts of Newfoundland this weekend, bringing high winds and rain along with it.
By the time Hurricane Earl arrives, it'll be downgraded to a post-tropical storm — but that doesn't mean the southeastern part of the island will escape its wrath, says Ian Hubbard, a meteorologist with the Canadian Hurricane Centre.
"It will be diminishing in strength, but it's still going to be … powerful," Hubbard said Friday afternoon.
"It's actually going to be moving fairly slow, so we're going to be seeing some weather from this throughout the weekend."
Earl is expected to bring between 40 and 80 millimetres of rain to the southern Avalon Peninsula and St. John's metro area, beginning Saturday morning in the south and in the afternoon in the northern part of the peninsula.
That rain will continue throughout the day Sunday and could last until Monday morning, Hubbard said.
Wind gusts are also expected to hit 80 km/h, and may reach 100 km/h in some areas.
Ocean swells will also hit the coast early Saturday morning, with waves reaching five to seven metres, according to Environment Canada.
The Grand Banks could see waves of 10 to 12 metres.
