Tropical Storm Chris anticipated to make landfall as post-tropical storm in N.L. Friday

Tropical storm Chris is expected to swing south of Nova Scotia at hurricane strength later this week before making landfall in Newfoundland as a “very strong” post-tropical storm, a meteorologist warned Tuesday.

Environment Canada meteorologist Ian Hubbard said the storm was off the coast of Carolina on Tuesday and was expected to intensify as it started moving northeast later in the day.

The storm was expected to track south of Nova Scotia at hurricane strength on Thursday, but Hubbard said it was too early to determine if wind or rainfall warnings would be required for Nova Scotia or southeastern Newfoundland, where a Friday arrival is in the forecast.

READ MORE: Environment Canada issues statement for Maritimes on tropical storm formed off U.S. coast

“As it tracks towards Newfoundland, it will diminish from a hurricane to a post-tropical storm, but it will still be very strong, and it will still be a significant storm at that point,” Hubbard said in an interview from Halifax.

Given the storm’s predicted track, the strongest winds were expected to be over Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. Southern coastlines of that region could also expect storm surges.

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“Eastern Newfoundland, specifically the Avalon Peninsula, seems to be the area we’re going to pay a lot of attention to over the next couple of days with the forecast,” said Hubbard.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Eastern Newfoundland, specifically the Avalon Peninsula, seems to be the area we're going to pay a lot of attention to over the next couple of days with the forecast," said Hubbard.

Hubbard said the storm’s track amounted to good news for people in Nova Scotia, but some eastern areas of the province could still expect some rain.

“There could also be some decent waves along the Atlantic coast, with wave heights as high as four metres for Cape Breton,” Hubbard said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There could also be some decent waves along the Atlantic coast, with wave heights as high as four metres for Cape Breton," Hubbard said.

Meanwhile, Environment Canada issued an air quality advisory Tuesday for the Fredericton area due to smoke from forest fires in New Brunswick. High levels of air pollution were expected to develop in the provincial capital and Southern York County.

A heat advisory also remained in effect for much of New Brunswick and northern Nova Scotia, where temperatures were expected to reach as high as 33 C in some areas.