Hey Folks,

Well, Big Bill is still a Major Hurricane.

Although he's weakened to a Category 3 with sustained winds of 195 km/h, conditions over the next 24 hours are still looking good for strengthening. As a result I wouldn't be surprised to see Bill regain his Category 4 status on Friday. You can watch a looping Satellite image of Bill here.

Of course, everyone is wondering about the track. Where will he track? When will he get here? How strong will he be? Well, here's a look at just a few of the ideas that different forecast models have on the possible track of Bill.

As you can see, almost all models agree that Newfoundland will be the eventual destination for Bill on Sunday night/ Monday morning. However there are a lot of different ideas on whether he'll pass over Nova Scotia first and then come up through Central Newfoundland... as likely a Tropical Storm. Or whether he'll track to the East, missing Nova Scotia and end up hitting us full on... likely as a Category One.

Here's the latest National Hurricane Centre forecast track. They seem to like the idea of Bill tracking East of Nova Scotia and hitting Newfoundland as a Category One on Monday Morning. A Category One Hurricane has sustained winds of 120 km/h, with gusts approaching 150 km/h.

If the bulk of the models hold true most of Newfoundland will see a big storm overnight Sunday into Monday. Here are some points I'd like to touch on.

-Typically the Western side of these systems see the heaviest rain and as a result, I think the West Coast could see the bulk of the rainfall from Bill. The potential for over 50 mm (2 inches) or even up to 70 mm is certainly there.
-Around the Centre of the storm, heavy rains of up to 50 mm is possible as well... with severe winds over 100 km/h approaching 150 km/h.
-At this point, it appears that Eastern Newfoundland could see the most severe winds from this storm. Winds are always stronger in the North and East quadrants of these storms. Not only do you get the winds from the actual storm, but you also get the wind from the forward momentum of the storm. And so East regions should start to prepare for some downed trees and power lines and flying lawn furniture.
-Coastal regions. This is an Island and so we a lot of Coast. As I mentioned the winds will be really pounding in from the South and East on the Eastern side this storm. Waves and swells will be extremely high everywhere... but especially along the South coast and the Southern shore of Newfoundland. Please be safe and stay away from the water. Coastal areas are especially dangerous in these storms.

More on Here & Now tonight.

Ryan