Tropical storm Andrea could bring wet weather to Maritime provinces

HALIFAX – The Canadian Hurricane Centre says the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season could bring wet weather to eastern Canada this weekend, but exactly where the fast-moving system will hit remains to be seen.

The Canadian centre in Halifax said Thursday tropical storm Andrea is not expected to generate high winds, but will likely transform into a wet low pressure system as it tracks towards the Maritime provinces.

Meteorologist Doug Mercer said Andrea will likely be east of Nova Scotia around 1 a.m. on Saturday.

“Then it will either cross or go very near southeastern Newfoundland before heading off into the north Atlantic,” he said.

Mercer said the tropical storm is not expected to become a hurricane.

“When it gets up to our part of the world, there will be strong winds, probably 60 or 70 kilometres per hour,” said Mercer. “The main issue with this storm will probably be a bit of rain on Saturday, but exactly where that’s going to be is a little bit iffy at this point.”

Mercer said some models are predicting that New Brunswick will receive the brunt of the storm, while others say Nova Scotia is in for the worst of the wet weather.

He said it was too early to predict rainfall amounts.

The storm formed late Wednesday over the Gulf of Mexico and was expected to bring heavy rain and winds to parts of Florida on Thursday.

Andrea was gaining momentum as it headed towards Florida’s western coast. A tropical storm warning was issued for a swath of the U.S. East Coast.

The storm’s maximum sustained winds early Thursday increased to nearly 95 km/h. It was centred 355 kilometres southwest of Tampa.

— With files from The Associated Press