Strong winds forecast over Vancouver Island, with freezing rain in B.C. Interior

Environment Canada is warning of strong winds in Victoria, the B.C. North Coast and along the west coast of Vancouver Island, while southeastern B.C. and Prince George could see freezing rain.

The weather office says winds blowing 80 kilometres perhour, with gusts up to 100 km/h, are forecast to persist on parts of Vancouver island until Sunday morning.

The warning spans the communities of Tofino, Ucluelet and Port Renfrew, Sooke, and the Jordan River area, and strong winds are also expected in Victoria. Strong gusts are also forecasted for Haida Gwaii and exposed coastal parts of the North Coast, according to the agency.

Environment Canada says the winds carry a risk of power outages. It comes a weekend after a strong windstorm caused a power outage for 190,000 B.C. Hydro customers.

Meanwhile, the agency has issued a special weather statement for parts of southeastern B.C., including the Nicola, Boundary, Shuswap and Okanagan regions, where freezing rain is expected tonight through Sunday morning.

The freezing rain statement also covers the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt and Highway 3 between Hope and Princeton.

A similar special weather statement was issued for the Prince George region, with Environment Canada saying the freezing rain is expected mainly in the valleys of the region.

"Warm air aloft with lingering cold air in the valley in the morning will create patches of freezing rain across the region," reads the statement.

"The risk of freezing rain will taper to showers around noon on Sunday."