Strongest wind, heaviest rain still to come for the Maritimes

A strong coastal storm will cut up through New England and into Quebec on Monday.

The Maritimes is on the eastern side of the storm system which will be characterized by areas of heavy rain and a high and gusty southerly wind. The central pressure of the storm is expected to fall to 978 millibars, which would put it on par with some of our strongest winter nor’easters. Not as strong though as some of the historic storms in the region such as Hurricane Juan, White Juan, and Post-tropical Storm Fiona.

With a central pressure falling to 978 mb it will be a strong storm by winter standardsThe peak wind gusts will reach 70-to-110 km/hr for a large part of the Maritimes. Those peak winds will arrive for southwestern Nova Scotia and southwestern New Brunswick late Monday afternoon. The peak wind will impact the remainder of the Maritimes Monday evening and night. By sunrise Tuesday, most of the Maritimes will be out of that strong wind with the exception of Cape Breton, where it could linger through Tuesday morning before diminishing in the afternoon.

Speaking of Cape Breton, due to the topography of the Highlands, northern Inverness County will almost assuredly hit gusts of 130 km/hr Monday night.

The wind is strong enough to produce scattered power outages and travel disruptions such as delays or cancellations of ferry services.

South and southeast winds peak for much of the Maritimes Monday evening and nightPeriods of heavier rain are expected with the storm. Rainfall warnings are in effect for a large portion of both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Pockets of 50-to-90 mm wouldn’t be a surprise with a storm such as this and runoff may be increased by the ground being frozen. While the rain eases to showers for most of the region by Tuesday morning, it is expected to linger through Tuesday and possibly into Wednesday for Guysborough County and Cape Breton. That brings a risk of rain totals reaching or exceeding 100 mm by Wednesday morning for that part of the Maritimes.

Pockets of rain reaching or exceeding 50 mm are being indicated. That is shown here in the orange and reds.Storm surge warnings have been issued for parts of the Atlantic coastline of Nova Scotia. Water levels on south-facing coastlines could exceed the typical level during high tide Monday night which will be near midnight. There will also be large and breaking waves near the shoreline.

This is the third Monday in a row the Maritimes has had to contend with a storm. The climatological frequency of coastal lows such is this is for one to develop about once every seven days during our cold season. Should the overall weather pattern then be favourable to direct the low close enough to impact us this can result in multiple running weeks where inclement weather seems to arrive on or near the same day of the week.