Tropical Storm Leslie a Threat to Canada
With the hurricane season nearing its peak in the Atlantic, more tropical systems have spun up this past week. The first system which is not much of a concern (unless you are boating in the middle of the Atlantic) is Michael. Michael, once a category three hurricane, the strongest seen this year, has been spinning in the middle of the North Atlantic for a while now and is not expected to make a landfall.
The second storm; Leslie, however, is spinning west of Michael and has a small chance at making a landfall somewhere on the south-eastern coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Bermuda is already experiencing high surf and there’s a good chance they’ll experience tropical storm force winds this Sunday since Leslie is such a large storm. By that time, Leslie will likely be upgraded to hurricane status of category one. It will slowly start moving north as the trough moving in from Eastern Canada approaches the storm. Though, with that said, Leslie still stands a slim chance at making landfall on Canadian soil and making a significant impact on the province. Since this possibility is still quite a ways away – five to six days – weather models are having trouble deciphering Leslie’s exact future track.
Even though Leslie might come close to Newfoundland within the next week or so, it appears the worst part of the storm will be well off to the east of the island as the top right quadrant of the storm where the strongest winds are located is not expected to affect land. The last time Newfoundland got struck by a tropical disturbance was back in October of last year where tropical storm Ophelia struck, dumping heavy rains on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland. The most memorable hurricane to affect Newfoundland in recent memory had to have been Hurricane Igor, in 2008. This hurricane caused severe flooding to the eastern half of Newfoundland where in St. Lawrence, NFLD, 238mm fell. This was the most damaging hurricane to have ever hit Newfoundland in recent history.
Updates on Leslie will be forthcoming as it nears Canada!
