HALIFAX – Forecasters say hurricane Arthur will likely make landfall in southwestern Nova Scotia on Saturday morning as a near-hurricane strength storm.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre has upgraded tropical storm watches to warnings for parts of Nova Scotia, including in Halifax and Digby, Lunenburg and Queens counties.

All of Prince Edward Island and southern and eastern New Brunswick remain under tropical storm watches, but centre manager Chris Fogarty says those could be upgraded today.

The centre says a trough of low pressure will be moving eastward from New England and will guide the storm, which was 150 kilometres northeast of Cape Hatteras early today, towards Atlantic Canada.

Arthur will hit southwestern Nova Scotia and track across the province towards the southern Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Saturday evening.

Wind warnings have already been issued for parts of southwestern Nova Scotia, where winds will gust up to 90 kilometres an hour.

Fogarty says New Brunswick is expected to get the most rain and warned of possible flooding, with up to 150 millimetres expected in some areas over a 12 hour period.