Hold onto your hats! It’s expected to be a gusty Saturday afternoon across southern Alberta. A ridge of high pressure is sitting over the province, which helped produce a beautiful Friday for Calgary with a high of 21 C. But that ridge will start to deteriorate this evening, resulting in more intense winds moving into the area come Saturday as the jet stream sits over the Calgary area. Winds for Calgary will be at their strongest in the mid-afternoon hours, with models predicting peak wind gusts in the high 60s/low 70s by around 4 p.m. There will still be plenty of sunshine in store for tomorrow but raking any leaves will prove to be a challenge. The westerly winds will help keep temperatures above seasonal, though not as warm as on Friday, with a forecast high of 17 C for Saturday. By the time Sunday comes around, the jet stream retreats farther north which will calm down the wind, but we will hold onto that sunshine with a seasonal high of 12 C. The next disruptor to the weather pattern is poised to arrive next weekend. Long-range models show colder air from the north pooling into Western Canada for several days, driving high temperature values down into the single digits.
