Gros Morne National Park is virtually closing up as Dorian makes its way to the Atlantic provinces. Parks Canada is also reducing access to national historic sites.
Dorian is a category one hurricane off the coast of North Carolina, with projections showing a downgrade to a post tropical storm by the time it hits Newfoundland and Labrador.
As a precaution, all camping accommodations, visitor services, trails, and activities at Gros Morne, and national historic sites at Port au Choix, L’Anse aux Meadows and Red Bay will close at 5 p.m., Saturday.
As for Terra Nova National Park, all back-country campsites will be closed until Monday. Campsites at Newman Sound and Malady Head will remain open, and walking trails and other normal visitor services will not be affected.
Jean-Marc Couturier, meteorologist with the Canadian Hurricane Centre says Dorian is still set to make landfall by Saturday evening.
He says we’re looking at a large area of rain spreading throughout Nova Scotia, PEI and then western Newfoundland during the night Saturday into Sunday. Couturier says there is very little impact for central, eastern, and southeastern NL. The storm looks to mostly impact the west, south coast, Northern Peninsula and southeastern Labrador.
For the west, northern peninsula and south coast, winds will start as easterlies, switching west in excess of 100 km per hour. 40-60 mm rain is expected for the area.
The east coast will mostly be spared, seeing westerly winds Sunday and Monday in the range of 50-80 km/h per hour. Rainfall is around 25 mm.
The storm will pass over southern Labrador Sunday evening bringing strong easterly winds and about 50 mm of rain.
Be Prepared, says Environment Canada
Environment Canada is urging those in the storm’s path to make sure they have enough food, water, medication and supplies to last for at least 72 hours.
The agency warns it is better to be prepared and underwhelmed than to be under-prepared and unable to deal with what actually occurs.
By Monday, the storm should be moving out of the province, but the Atlantic region may not be in the clear. There are a few areas of interest brewing in the tropics, that meteorologists are keeping a close eye on.
Stay tuned as VOCM will bring you the latest on the storm as it arrives in Newfoundland and Labrador—both on air and online.
