Edmonton weather: Temperatures to drop 20 degrees in the coming days

The cold is here, but not for long. Cory Edel has Edmonton's Wednesday forecast.

After hitting a high of 0 C in Edmonton Tuesday, arctic air will ooze in from the north over the next few days.

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We’ll get to a high around -7 C in the city Wednesday afternoon and then drop to the -20 C range by Thursday afternoon.

Wind has eased in Edmonton this morning, but it looks like it’ll pick up a bit midday and early this afternoon with gusts in the 30-40 km/h range.

As the coldest air settles in Thursday/Friday (and Saturday morning), the wind should be fairly calm (5-15 km/h).

Eastern Alberta will get morning lows in the -30s and daytime highs in the -25 C range Thursday/Friday.

Western Alberta gets mornings in the -20s and afternoon highs in the minus teens to close the week.

The question is: How long will the arctic air stick around?

At this point, it looks like the coldest air will start to shift further east through the weekend.

There’s still some uncertainty with how quickly that’ll happen. But, I think Edmonton should get back to the -10 C range this weekend.

Highs should climb to the -5 C range early next week and then back up around 0 C by the end of next week.

Precipitation outlook:

No significant snow is expected in over the next few days, just a chance of some flurries in the foothills late Thursday.

An area of low pressure will likely bring some flurries and light snow to central and north-central Alberta on Saturday.

As of now, it appears that could deliver anywhere between a dusting and possibly as much as 3-4 cm of snow.

Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Mix of sun & cloud.

Light wind in the morning, becoming NW 15-20 gusting to 30-40 km/h midday and early afternoon.

High: -7

Tonight - Cloudy periods and light wind.

9pm: -10

Thursday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Temperatures falling through the day.

Morning: -15

Afternoon: -18

Friday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning Low: -26

Afternoon High: -20

Saturday - Mostly cloudy. 40% chance of flurries or light snow.

Morning Low: -22

Afternoon High: -12

Sunday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: -15

Afternoon High: -9

Monday - Increasing cloud. 40% chance of late-day flurries or light snow.

Morning Low: -12

Afternoon High: -5