Hurricane Fiona strengthened into a post-tropical cyclone late Friday, but forecasters warned it could still bring hurricane-force winds, heavy rains and storm surges to Atlantic Canada, and has the potential to cause to be one of the strongest storms in the country’s history.

Fiona, which was a Category 4 hurricane in the morning but weakened to a Category 2 hurricane in the evening, is expected to make landfall in Nova Scotia early Saturday morning.

The Canadian Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane warning for large coastal areas of the provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. For its part, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted that Fiona is expected to reach the region as a “large and powerful post-tropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds”.

“It will certainly be one of the tropical cyclones – if not the most powerful – to hit our part of the country,” said Ian Hubbard, meteorologist at the Canadian Hurricane Center in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. “It’s definitely going to be as loud and serious as anything I’ve seen.”

The NHC reported that Fiona had maximum sustained winds of 165 kilometers per hour (105 miles per hour) on Friday evening. It was located about 140 miles (220 kilometers) southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was moving north at 46 mph (74 km/h).

Its hurricane-force winds extend up to 185 miles (295 kilometers) from the vortex, and tropical-storm-force winds reach up to 345 miles (555 kilometers).

Meanwhile, the NHC said New Tropical Storm Ian in the Caribbean is expected to continue to strengthen and hit Cuba like a hurricane early Tuesday morning and then reach southern Florida early Wednesday.

It was located about 385 miles (625 kilometers) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica on Friday evening. It had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 km/h) and was moving in a west-northwest direction at 12 mph (19 km/h). A hurricane warning has been issued for the Cayman Islands.