Cat-4 hurricane Fiona holds ‘large and powerful’ for Canadian landfall

Hurricane Fiona retained Cat-4 status, offering little hope that eastern Canada can escape hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfalls starting Friday (September 23) and through the weekend.

"Some slight weakening is forecast to begin later today, however Fiona is forecast to be a large and powerful post-tropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds when it approaches and moves over Nova Scotia tonight and Saturday," researchers at the US National Hurricane Center said in their latest warning at 06:00 UTC.

Fiona was last tracked passing some 185 miles (300 km) west of Bermuda and moving toward the north-northeast near 21 mph (33 km/h) with 875 miles (1410 km) to go to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

After the Nova Scotia landfall, Fiona is expected to move into the Gulf of St. Lawrence on Saturday, and then across Labrador over the Labrador Sea on Sunday.

Fiona continues to bear maximum sustained wind speeds of 130 mph (215 km/h) with higher gusts and wields hurricane-force winds at a 115-mile (185 km) radius from centre and tropical-storm-force winds a full 275 miles (445 km) out.

As of the 0600 reading, the NHC has hurricane warnings for Bermuda and parts of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Isle-de-la-Madeleine and parts of Newfoundland. Tropical storm warnings extend well beyond those regions across eastern Canada.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic, tropical storm Gaston with sustained wind speeds of 65 mph (100 km/h) was brushing a little too close for comfort to the Azores, where tropical storm warnings are in effect.

Greater concern goes to a disturbance moving into the central Caribbean from the southwest now given a 90% chance of cyclone formation within the next 48 hours. Weather conditions could get interesting in north-western Venezuela and north-eastern Colombia while Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and western Cuba are told to stay alert.

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