Watching Sandy

Tropical storm Sandy is poised to become a big news maker if the some of the current forecast models hold up. The storm this morning is nearing hurricane strength with 70mph winds about 120 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica. She is moving north at 14 mph and will affect the island today before moving across Cuba and into the warm waters between Florida and the Bahamas. Sandy is then expected to move northeast parallel to the east coast before possibly retrograding back towards the coast early next week in the vicinity of NYC. If this plays out there would be major implications for the east coast especially New England along with very heavy rain and strong winds inland into eastern New York and southern Quebec. This storm scenario reminds me of the Perfect Storm or Halloween Nor'Easter back in October 1991. It is too early to sound the alarm but people from North Carolina to Nova Scotia need to be paying attention to the forecast through this weekend and into early next week. Today all interest are on Jamaica and Cuba that are under Hurricane Warnings for Sandy. Heavy rain will be the main threat with serious flooding possible. A tropical storm watch is also in effect now for southeast Florida.

In the short term high pressure will be in control of the weather here in the east into Saturday before the fun begins. Temperatures will warm from where they sit now, near 2C up into the lower teens today and eventually near 20C for a high by Friday. It will turn much colder by Sunday along with the threat of some heavy rain by late in the day.

Snow clearing in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan on Tuesday. (CBC News)

SNOW Update: Heavy snow and chilly winds hit southern Alberta and Saskatchewan on Tuesday with over 10cm of snow in many locations including Calgary. Calgary is at a frigid -8C currently. There were numerous accidents as drivers adjusted to icy, slushy roads. This is a process as we know, that takes some into January to get use to! Simple solution, winter tires and slow down. The bulk of the snowfall today will be across central and northern Saskatchewan.