Wednesday’s low temperatures will be Thursday’s high as southern Alberta ends the week with cold weather

Temperatures cooling off, snow by Friday. Jodi Hughes has a look at the five-day forecast from the Sky Watch Weather Centre.

Wednesday will be mild with a mix of sun and cloud.

Temperatures will be close to seasonal in Calgary with a high of -2 C and a low of -12 C.

The ridge of high pressure that has been elevating temperatures over the past few days will start to narrow over the west coast as a large and cold air mass in east-central Canada intensifies over the next 24 hours.

Wednesday’s low in Calgary will become Thursday’s high as temperatures drop to -20 C by the evening.

Winds will flow almost directly north to south through Alberta on Thursday and Friday, and snow is possible in central and southern Alberta.

Accumulations will be minimal in Calgary if snow does fall.

Temperatures in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan will be cold enough Thursday that cold warning thresholds could be met.

That snow and wind may also cause visibility to deteriorate quite quickly across the southern Prairies.

Warmer air will return to southern Alberta by the end of the weekend, and by next week daytime highs will hover around the freezing mark.