Record-breaking warmth to continue with highs close to 20 C

Stretch of warm weather in Calgary. Jodi Hughes has a look at the five-day forecast from the Sky Watch Weather Centre.

A well-supported and broad ridge of high pressure has parked over western Canada, bringing extreme amounts of moisture as well as elevated temperatures.

An atmospheric river continues to bring rain into the south and the central coast, which is tracking through B.C. toward the Alberta border.

As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, yellow- and orange-level rainfall warnings remained in southwestern B.C., with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) explaining total accumulations of up to 300 millimetres of rain are expected in some areas over a few days.

Not only is it impossible for that much moisture to be absorbed by the ground at the same rate it falls, but the rain falling onto snow is creating other challenges as it produces very rapid snowmelt—especially in the mountains.

In its rainfall advisory, ECCC explained, “Localized flooding is likely. Some roads may become impassable. Landslides may occur in vulnerable areas such as steep slopes, deforested areas or recent burn scars.”

On Wednesday morning, Drive BC cameras showed highway road conditions across southeastern British Columbia were variable—including regions with wet roads and snowy, slushy conditions, as well as poor visibility in some higher-elevation regions.

In Alberta, warm westerly winds have prompted wind warnings for the southwest corner of the province, and snowfall warnings have been issued west of the QEII and along the foothills.

“Westerly winds gusting to 100 km/h at times are possible into Thursday. Driving conditions will likely be difficult. High-sided vehicles will be pushed around by the wind.”

Calgary is expecting wind speeds of 30 to 50 km/h on Wednesday.

Both the daytime highs and overnight lows across central and southern Alberta will sit well above seasonal for the next few days.

On Tuesday, six locations in Alberta tied previous or set new record high temperatures, including in the Camrose area at 14.1 C (the old record of 12.8 C was set in 1959), and the Edmonton (Int’l Airport) area reached 13.9 C (the old record of 13.2 C was set in 2024).

Calgary unofficially hit 16.8 C on Tuesday.

The record high for March 17 in Calgary was 17.8 C, set in 1885.

Southern Alberta also experienced rapid snowmelt on Tuesday, with most major thoroughfares in Calgary showing dry conditions by the Wednesday morning commute.

Some side streets, back alleys and parking lots still had areas with soft and slushy snow.

Water was pooling in grassy areas and at the base of slopes, as well as in front of any storm drains clogged with debris.

This new moisture as well as the amplified snowmelt has led to heightened avalanche risk across the Rockies and toward the B.C. coast.

As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, Avalanche Canada evaluated the avalanche risk as considerable to high for most areas.

The next chance of precipitation in Calgary will be on Saturday when another weather pattern change will introduce colder air and moisture from the north.

The daytime high on Saturday will be 16 degrees colder than Friday.