Prince County rainfall warning added to wind warning for P.E.I.

The weather forecast for P.E.I. Wednesday night and Thursday is going from bad to worse.

Environment Canada has issued a rainfall warning for Prince County, in addition to a wind warning for the whole province.

"We've got a little bit of everything in this forecast," said CBC meteorologist Tina Simpkin.

Wednesday is starting unseasonably warm, with temperatures expected to hit double digits. The wind is forecast to pick up in the early afternoon, out of the south at 40 km/h with gusts to 60.

After midnight those winds are expected to increase to 60 km/h with gusts to 90, and those conditions will persist past dawn.

Given that wind, Confederation Bridge is warning traffic restrictions could be in place starting at about 1 p.m. Wednesday and continuing until 10 a.m. Thursday.

The story in the morning will be rapidly dropping temperatures, said Simpkin.

"Seven o'clock tomorrow morning, the temperatures are going to be sitting at 9 C, and then by 10 or 11 across the Island the temperatures are going to fall to zero," said Simpkin. "So that's a three- or four-hour window when that cold front comes in."

And the temperature will keep falling, with the forecast calling for -15 C overnight.

While there will be more rain up west, rainfall could be significant across the Island. Prince County could see five to 10 millimetres overnight and a further 10 to 15 Thursday. The forecast for the rest of the province is two to four millimetres overnight and 10 to 15 Thursday.

The rain is expected to turn to snow as the temperature falls, adding a couple of centimetres to what will be turning to ice. Both walkers and drivers will need to be on the lookout.

"It's going to be a rapid freeze tomorrow morning and a lot of wind," said Simpkin. "I'm sure that's going to cause some problems on the roadways."

The wind will ease somewhat late Thursday morning, as it turns around out of the northwest.