Hurricane Ernesto to swing south of Newfoundland, but it will bring heavy rain and high seas

Newfoundland appeared to catch a lucky break Monday with Hurricane Ernesto expected to pass south of the island, but the fast-moving storm was still forecast to bring intense rain over a short period.

Environment Canada issued a tropical cyclone information statement for the eastern part of the province, including the capital of St. John’s, N.L., saying the storm would transition to a post-tropical storm as it passed the region late Monday. Ernesto could bring 25 millimetres of rain per hour over a three-hour window, the agency said, with up to 80 millimetres total expected in some areas — particularly in southeastern Newfoundland.

Up to 60 millimetres were expected to fall in the vicinity of St. John’s.

David Neil, a warning preparedness meteorologist for Environment Canada, said the island would avoid Ernesto’s worst impacts, but he advised people to stay off the roads and away from the coast on Monday night as the storm was also expected to bring powerful waves.

“It’s going to go through within the course of a few hours, but it will be quite wet and quite nasty there for a few hours,” Neil said in an interview Monday. “Definitely dodging a bit of a bullet here, but it’s still not going to be a nice night.”

Ernesto made landfall in Bermuda on Saturday, knocking out power for more than 23,000 people in the tiny British territory. It weakened into a tropical storm as it moved away from the archipelago, but regained strength on Sunday and was once again classified as a hurricane.

By early Monday, the storm was about 110 kilometres south-southwest of Newfoundland’s Cape Race, according to an update from Environment Canada. It was moving at about 56 kilometres an hour with maximum winds measuring 130 km/h.

There had been fears that the storm would hurtle through the North Atlantic straight for Newfoundland and Labrador, but by Monday morning Neil said it was veering well south of Canada’s easternmost province.

A rainfall warning was in effect for eastern parts of the Avalon Peninsula, including St. John’s, on Monday. Neil said some of Monday’s rain was not caused by Ernesto, but by an unrelated tropical air mass.

Winds gusting between 60 and 80 km/h were expected to drive large waves along southeastern Newfoundland, and Environment Canada warned of possible coastal flooding, particularly along the southern coast stretching from the Burin to the Avalon peninsulas.

“There could be some minor damage to docks and coastal structures,” the weather agency said.

Neil cautioned curious wave watchers to stay away.

“I know people like to go see the big waves with these storms. It is quite dangerous,” he said. “Those waves can come up quite quickly and certainly, there’s a risk there that you could get caught unawares.”

The rain and high seas were expected to be over for Newfoundland by early Tuesday. The storm also brought large swells to Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast on Monday, which were expected to abate later in the evening, Environment Canada said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2024.