Edmonton weather: Partly cloudy and hazy with some showers on tap

CTV Edmonton's Cory Edel says wildfire smoke will clear out of Alberta's capita city Thursday.

The Air Quality Health Index rose to the high risk range early this morning as temperatures cooled and some of the smoke aloft sunk closer to the surface.

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We’ll probably see the AQHI stay there through the morning and then improve to a moderate risk this afternoon.

With light wind in the forecast, it’s unlikely that the smoke completely clear out of the area until early tonight or early Friday.

The smoke modelling (which has been very accurate of late) has a significant improvement for Friday in the Edmonton area.

However, northeastern Alberta will likely get a very smoky day Friday and may see some air quality warnings issued.

Aside from the haze, we’ll be Partly Cloudy through today with temperatures rising to around 23 or 24 C.

There’s an area of low pressure bringing showers to southern Alberta today and on the northern edge of that system, we may see a scattered shower or thunderstorm develop near the Edmonton region this afternoon or early this evening.

It’ll be very hit and miss and I think most of the city will probably get missed.

Friday night and early Saturday morning have a much higher potential to bring some precipitation to the Edmonton area.

We’ll be partly cloudy and gusty through the day Friday. But, another low-pressure system moving in from the west will bring some showers and thunderstorms to western Alberta through the afternoon and evening hours Friday.

As that system moves eastwards, it should push some showers OR periods of rain through the Edmonton region Friday night/early Saturday morning.

It’s still looking like we’ll get a break from the rain for the late-morning and early afternoon hours Saturday (probably even a few glimpses of the sun breaking through the clouds).

THEN...a chance of scattered showers for the evening hours Saturday.

That should be a lot more hit and miss and the risk of showers Sunday looks fairly hit and miss as well.

Bottom line: YES, we will very likely get some rain this weekend, and probably both days. BUT, it doesn’t look like we’ll see two full days of steady rain.

Afternoon highs will be between 18 and 22 C (depending on whether we get afternoon precipitation and the timing). I’ve split the difference and gone with highs of 20 C for both Saturday and Sunday.

Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Partly cloudy with wildfire haze. Light wind.

Slight risk of a late-afternoon shower or thunderstorm.

High: 24

Tonight - Partly cloudy.

9pm: 20

Friday - Partly cloudy. Wind SE 20 gusting to 40.

60% chance of showers or periods of rain in the evening and overnight.

Morning Low: 13

Afternoon High: 25

Saturday - 70% chance of showers or periods of rain early in the morning.

Cloudy with a few sunny breaks through the day.

40% chance of a scattered shower late in the day.

Morning Low: 14

Afternoon High: 20

Sunday - Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of a shower.

Morning Low: 13

Afternoon High: 20

Monday - Mix of sun & cloud. 40% chance of shower.

Morning Low: 12

Afternoon High: 20

Tuesday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: 10

Afternoon High: 18