This satellite image taken Friday at 1:15 a.m. ET shows tropical storm Kyle located to the southwest of Bermuda. (Weather Underground/Associated Press)

The Maritimes are being warned to brace for a wet and windy weekend as tropical storm Kyle gains strength and moves slowly north.

Environment Canada issued special weather warnings on Friday for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island as the storm tracked northward at about 28 kilometres an hour.

Kyle's maximum sustained winds were pegged at about 95 km/h by 8 p.m. ET Friday in the Atlantic Ocean. It's about 605 kilometres southwest of Bermuda, where a tropical storm watch has been issued. The British territory is expected to receive about 75 millimetres of rain by the end of Saturday.

Kyle is gaining strength as it swirls in the Atlantic Ocean and could become a hurricane by Saturday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported.

But Kyle, which is the 11th named storm this season in the Atlantic, is expected to weaken before making landfall near Saint John, N.B., on Sunday, according to Environment Canada.

Kyle will spend about 18 hours passing through the coldest waters in the Atlantic Ocean before it reaches the region. That should see the storm downgraded from a hurricane to a post-tropical storm, Environment Canada meteorologist Claude Côté said.

"The concern is for strong winds to the east of the track of that system," Côté said.

The Maritimes could see up to 100 mm of rain and fierce winds, CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe said.

The winds seen in New Brunswick will likely be similar to a winter storm in the province, Côté said, gusting up to 100 km/h.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre is predicting that the heaviest rainfall will be seen in New Brunswick on Sunday.

But the current track of the storm is likely to cause a storm surge and high waves along the western coast of Nova Scotia, the Fundy shore of southern New Brunswick and along parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, said the hurricane centre.

The rain and wind are expected to last until Monday.

Low-pressure system also moving in

A low-pressure system is also moving toward the region from the southeast U.S. coast and may complicate how Kyle impacts the Maritimes, the hurricane centre said.

The pressure system, which didn't gain tropical strength or a name over the Atlantic, is expected to bring up to 40 millimetres of rain to parts of New Brunswick, Quebec and southern Ontario beginning late Friday.

The storm has already hit the Carolinas in the United States, dumping about 100 millimetres of rain along the coast. As the system moves up the mid-Atlantic seaboard, it is expected to bring storm winds, coastal flooding, high surf and rip currents to the region.

The amount of rain from the low-pressure storm and Kyle could result in flooding in parts of the Maritimes, said the hurricane centre.

New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization issued a severe weather advisory on Friday afternoon warning residents living along streams and rivers to be prepared for localized flooding.

The storm also has the potential to create power outages and damage to trees and property, said EMO spokesman Andy Morton.

"People should look around their property and secure any loose items that might be affected by wind," Morton said.

With files from the Associated Press