Storm will bring strong winds, snow and rain to the Maritimes on Wednesday

A low brewing in the southern U.S. will cross North America over the next few days bringing a messy mix of snow, rain, ice and strong winds.

The storm will arrive in the Maritimes on Wednesday and looks set to pack a punch.

On the leading edge of the storm, we'll see snow moving into the region from west to east throughout Wednesday morning, which may lead toslick travel conditions for most people.

As temperatures rise throughout the day, we'll see the snow mixing and changing toice pellets and rain across Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and southern New Brunswick.

Across central and northern New Brunswick, the snow and ice pellets will add up with accumulations of 10 to 30 centimetres looking likely.

The highest rainfall totals are expected along the Atlantic coastline where 20to 40millimetres looks likely.

While the snow, ice and rain will have an impact, the strong winds will likely be the biggest issue.

Widespread southerly wind gusts of 80 to 110 km/h are possible for Nova Scotia and P.E.I.as well as southern New Brunswick and the Acadian Peninsula. Gusts of 60 to 80 km/h are looking more likely across the rest of northern New Brunswick while gusts exceeding 120 km/h are expected in Les Sutes winds in Cape Breton.

Thankfully, this is a quick moving storm and so the strongest winds will be limited to a six- to eight-hour period as the storm blows through on Wednesday.

Regardless, winds of this strength are likely to cause some power outages and you should prepare by ensuring all your electronic devices are charged up and your emergency kits are ready to go.

Nova Scotia Power activated its emergency operations centre ahead of Wednesday's storm. In a news release, the company saidcrews are preparing and will be positioned across the province to respond to outages.

"The number one cause of power outages during storms is trees coming into contact with power lines. Our crews are prepared to safely respond to this type of damage as quickly as possible," Matt Drover, Nova Scotia Power's storm lead, said in a news release.

Environment and Climate Change Canada has also issued special weather statementsfor the Maritimes ahead of the storm.