Some Atlantic Canadians woke up to a light breeze and the odd raindrop on Saturday morning, but residents are bracing for the impact of what is now a strong Category 1 hurricane.
Hurricane Dorian is barrelling toward the region with winds of 140 km/h and gusts of up to 165 km/h.
Most of Atlantic Canada is under a combination of weather warnings, including hurricane, tropical storm and rainfall warnings for much of Nova Scotia, rainfall warnings for New Brunswick, rainfall, wind, storm surge and tropical storm warnings for P.E.I. and hurricane, tropical storm and wind warnings for Newfoundland and Labrador.
Environment Canada is warning of flooding along the coast due to storm surges and pounding surf.
The agency is cautioning the winds will topple trees, damage roofing and cladding on buildings, and lead to extended power outages.
"This storm is just a huge storm," said CBC meteorologist Tina Simpkin. "This is a big deal."
As of early Saturday morning, the system was about 650 kilometres southwest of Halifax, moving northeast at 41 km/h — the fastest it has travelled since it formed.
Nova Scotia
Simpkin said the eyewall of the hurricane is expected to hit somewhere between Lunenburg, N.S., and Sheet Harbour this afternoon around suppertime.
Ahead of the system, showers will pick up in intensity.
Rain will become heavy at times this morning over mainland Nova Scotia with a risk of a thunderstorm. It will spread across Nova Scotia today, with 100 to 150 millimetres expected over western areas, and 200 millimetres possible in some local areas. Over central and northwestern parts of the province, 60 to 120 millimetres are expected.
Rain will taper off from southwestern portions of the province to the northeast between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/dorian-weather-saturday-1.5274673