High winds, heavy rain forcing Marine Atlantic delays to Newfoundland

An incoming weather system is set to bring high winds and considerable amounts of rain to much of Newfoundland and Labrador this week, with the island's western and southwest areas expected to be hit the hardest.

Strong winds are already gusting, and expected to reach up to 140 km/h tonight in the Wreckhouse. 

Those heavy winds aren't expected to settle down until Tuesday evening, which has forced Marine Atlantic to cancel crossings on Monday and warn of potential delays on Tuesday and possibly Wednesday. 

The timing is tough, putting a strain on people trying to get home for Christmas, and those waiting for holiday deliveries. 

Environment Canada meteorologist Justin Boudreau told CBC News the ferry service route between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia is in for about 36 hours of "unpassable" conditions.  

On top of that, he said parts of southwestern Newfoundland are in for quite a bit of rain. 

"It's another one of these sort of bands of rain that's streaming moisture, and it kind of looks like it's going to stick over the southwest coast for one, to two, to maybe three days," Boudreau said on Monday. 

"It's approaching 100 [millimetres] for most people down in the southwest, and then we're getting well into 100, maybe even as high as 200 or more up into the higher terrain."

The good news, according to Boudreau, is that temperatures during the day this week will be fairly mild, above 0 C. 

Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.