Rainy Tuesday for the Maritimes; Hurricane Milton update

Rain, downpours possible Tuesday CTV Atlantic meteorologist Kalin Mitchell reports on rain and possible downpours moving across the Maritimes Tuesday into early Wednesday.

A band of rain continues to move slowly across the Maritimes. Hurricane Milton is forecasted to remain a major hurricane with severe weather impacts in Florida.

Rainy Tuesday

A slow-moving weather front moving in from the west continues to push through rain for the Maritimes.

There remains a risk of localized downpours within the rain with the chance of downpours highest in New Brunswick and western Nova Scotia Tuesday afternoon. The risk of downpours moves to eastern Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island Tuesday evening. The last of the rain is expected to clear Cape Breton early Wednesday morning.

Parts of western New Brunswick and western Nova Scotia have reported some rain amounts of five-to-15 millimetres. In most cases, another five-to-15 millimetres of rain can be expected. Any occurring downpours could help produce further localized rain totals of 15-to-40 millimetres.

Frost advisory issued

A cooler brand of autumn air moves in behind the front. Frost advisories are in effect for much of New Brunswick as temperatures are expected to fall into a range -3 C to +4 C by early Wednesday morning. The chilliest of those temperatures is expected in low-lying areas in the northwest of the province.

High temperatures in the Maritimes are expected to be held in the low-teens through the end of this week, which is near to just below seasonable for this time of the year.

Hurricane Milton update

Hurricane Milton fluctuated between a category-five and category-four hurricane Monday into Tuesday. The storm is expected to become a strong category-three hurricane before making landfall in western Florida Wednesday night. The storm will maintain as a hurricane as it crosses Florida and exits east over the Atlantic Ocean.

The landfall point in Florida looks increasingly likely to be near Tampa. Areas just to the south of Tampa have the highest chance of experiencing the strongest of the hurricane force winds. A larger area of Florida will experience tropical storm to near hurricane force winds. The wind will heavily damage utility infrastructure and down trees.

Water hazards are going to be the most dangerous part of the storm. Storm surge could crest as high 2.7-to-4.5 metres (eight-to-15 feet) above typical high tide marks on parts of the coastline from Tampa to Fort Myers. Inland rain could total as much as 200-to-450 millimetres for an area beginning near Tampa and extending into northern areas of Florida, including Gainesville and just south of Jacksonville. The torrential rain will create extensive flash and urban flooding.

There remain no indications of any movement northward of the storm towards the Maritimes or Atlantic Canada, even in extended forecast models.