After bringing hurricane and tropical-storm conditions to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Hurricane Fiona is starting to move northward.
Overnight, Fiona strengthened into a Category 3 Hurricane as it headed toward the Turks and Caicos Islands after hammering Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
As of the 8:00 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center, the storm’s maximum sustained winds have reached 115 mph (185 kph) with higher gusts. Fiona is moving toward the north-northwest at 10 mph (17kph), and this movement is expected to continue through today.
By tonight or into Wednesday, we can expect Fiona to take a turn toward the north. On the forecast track, winds were expected to strengthen over the next couple of days, threatening to turn the storm into a Category 4 hurricane.
CBC meteorologist Tina Simpkin said Hurricane Fiona appeared to change its track overnight.
“Yesterday it looked like it was going to stay off the coast of Atlantic Canada, today it’s moving back to the west and the latest track puts it somewhere in the Gulf of St. Lawrence,” said Simpkin.
Maintaining a Category 3 hurricane, Fiona is expected to move past Bermuda Friday morning. Moving north of Bermuda, the hurricane is expected to collide with a weather front as it approaches Atlantic Canada, according to CTV News Canada, transitioning into either a Category 1 hurricane or a powerful post-tropical storm.
As for where and exactly when Hurricane Fiona will impact Atlantic Canada, we will know more as the weekend approaches,
As it stands, the hurricane is due to enter Canadian waters early Saturday morning and pass by the eastern tip of Cape Breton around midday. The powerful hurricane has already caused widespread damage in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
