Warm and windy start to the week with gusts as strong as 115 km/h possible

High winds in southwest Alberta on Monday. Jodi Hughes has a look at the five-day forecast from the Sky Watch Weather Centre.

Strong westerly winds are expected to flow over the Rockies on Monday prompting Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to issue wind warnings for the southwestern portion of Alberta as well as areas north of the Rockies along the Alberta-B.C. border.

Sustained winds of close to 50 km/h were recorded at YYC International over the morning commute with gusts closer to 70 km/h.

Wind speeds will be even more intense in southwestern Alberta with ECCC noting, “Westerly wind gusts of 100 km/h to 115 km/h are expected this morning.”

Strong winds pose a number of risks in this region including making driving conditions more difficult as, “High-sided vehicles will be pushed around by the wind.”

The national weather agency explains wind speed will decrease throughout the day.

Temperatures will be well above seasonal for that same area to start the week, and the day started off warm with values early Monday that were more than 20 degrees higher than a typical pre-dawn low.

The average range in Calgary is 4 C for a daily high and -8 C for a daily low.

Forecast highs in southern Alberta Monday will be in the mid to high teens, but it will feel cooler than that with such strong wind.

The forecast for Remembrance Day around 11 a.m. will include a mix of sun and cloud in Calgary with temperatures between 6 C to 10 C, and a breeze around 15 to 20 km/h.

It will cool down slightly by Wednesday, but at 6 C, highs will still be above average.

There is a chance of mixed precipitation on Thursday with minimal accumulations for the Calgary area.

A low-riding jet will introduce an infusion of cooler air by Saturday marking the start of at least five-days of daytime highs hovering around 0 C.