Edmonton posted it’s warmest day so far this year on Monday as temperatures hit 22.7 C. We’ll be in the warm air for one more day today with a high in the 17 to 20 C range this afternoon (depending on how soon the cloudcover thickens). BUT...there’s a blast of cold air and a chance of snow later this week. The latest runs of the models have come in significantly colder and snowier than previous runs and there’s still some uncertainty with that snow outlook for Edmonton. However, I’ve added a chance of flurries or periods of snow to the Thursday-Saturday forecast. AND...several centimetres of heavy, wet snow isn’t out of the question. I’ve also pushed the forecast highs down into the 0 to 5 degree range for Thursday-Sunday. We’re still expecting a quick rebound to temperatures early next week. But...it’s going to be a chilly end to this week and the weekend won’t be anywhere near as nice as the past few days. It’s not looking great for all the golfers that booked tee times for later this week and this weekend now that courses are opening around the city. Here are the finer details: It’ll become cloudy this afternoon with some showers or periods of steadier rain moving into the Edmonton region this evening and overnight. This will be a long band of rain that stetches from around Drayton Valley all the way through the Edmonton/Red Deer regions and east toward Lloydminster. By Wednesday morning, the rain zone is mostly from around Edmonton northeast toward Cold Lake. Further north, we’ll have some heavier snow just north of Fort McMurray and a couple centimetres of snow is possible in Fort McMurray. We’ll also see some flurries in the Peace Country Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon: cloudy with a chance of some scattered showers in the Edmonton region. Wind will start gusting to 40-50 km/h in the afternoon and temperatures will hold steady in the 5 to 8 C range as the cooler air starts to settle in. Most of the heavier and steadier rain will be in areas from Calgary/Red Deer northeast towards Lloydminster. Here’s where things start to get uncertain. The models are projecting a deep area of low pressure to get “stuck” over Saskatchewan and Manitoba Thursday/Friday. THEN... they want to push that system backwards (west) toward Alberta late Friday/Saturday. The northerly flow on the back side of that system will haul in colder and colder air late this week, pushing daytime highs into that 0 to 5 C range (parts of northern and eastern Alberta will see sub-0 C daytime highs). We’ll also have some snow tied up with that system. There’s a VERY HIGH likelihood of snow in northeastern Alberta and western Alberta Thursday. For Edmonton and area, it’s just a chance of a few flurries. Beyond Thursday, IF (and that’s a big if) that system actually DOES back up to the east, we could be looking at either flurries or some heavier pockets of snow across much of Alberta (including Edmonton) Friday/Saturday. Let’s see how this develops in the coming days. Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area: Today - Partly cloudy. Increasing cloud late this afternoon. High: 18 Tonight - Cloudy. 70% chance of showers or periods of rain this evening and overnight. 9pm: 10 Wednesday - Cloudy. 70% chance of showers in the morning. 40% chance of afternoon showers. Becoming gusty in the afternoon. Morning Low: 6 Afternoon High: 8 Thursday - Mostly cloudy. 40% chance of flurries. Morning Low: -1 Afternoon High: 4 Friday - Cloudy. 40% chance of flurries or snow. Morning Low: -3 Afternoon High: 2 Saturday - Mostly cloudy. 40% chance of flurries or snow. Morning Low: -4 Afternoon High: 1 Sunday - Mostly cloudy. Morning Low: -5 Afternoon High: 3
