Gusty with flurries today; cool spell to linger through the weekend

Strong winds in Edmonton blew a port-a-potty through traffic on 103 Avenue Thursday night.

Cloudy, gusty and flurries on and off through the day in Edmonton.

• Hourly and 7-day forecast on our CTVNewsEdmonton.ca weather hub

Temperatures will stay just slightly below 0 C for a daytime high this afternoon.

We’re still dealing with a pool of very cool air aloft and a low pressure system stuck over Saskatchewan.

On the eastern side of that system, we continue to get heavy snow in parts of northeastern Alberta. An orange-level snowfall warning remains in effect for areas between Fort McMurray and Lac La Biche.

Fort McMurray has been dropped from that warning zone.

Plus, there’s a weather statement in effect for areas from Edmonton/Red Deer east to the Saskatchewan border.

Occasional flurries in that area will have some embedded bands of heavier snow. That heavier snow will be highly localized. So, most of central and eastern Alberta will see 2-5 cm of accumulation, but a few isolated areas of around 10 cm are possible.

Wind gusts in central and eastern Alberta will be in the 50 to 70 km/h range throughout the day.

Saturday looks fairly similar, although the wind will start to ease.

We’ll stay cool and cloudy with some occasional flurries. Gusts will be around 30 km/h in the Edmonton area Saturday morning...backing off to gusts in the 15 km/h range in the afternoon.

The pattern finally starts to change towards the end of the weekend.

That said, Sunday’s still looking chilly and mostly cloudy (and there’s still a slight chance of a few scattered flurries).

We’ll start to see some clearing and a warming trend early next week.

Temperatures should be back into the 10 to 15 C range by Monday/Tuesday.

Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Cloudy with flurries and occasional periods of snow.

Wind: N 20-30 with gusts in the 50-60 km/h range.

High: -1

Tonight - Cloudy with occasional flurries overnight.

Wind: NW 20-30 with gusts 30-40 km/h

9pm: -1

Saturday - Cloudy with occasional flurries.

Wind: N 20 gusting to 30 in the morning, easing in the afternoon.

Morning Low: -5

Afternoon High: -2

Sunday - Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of a few flurries.

Morning Low: -6

Afternoon High: 1

Monday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning Low: -5

Afternoon High: 5

Tuesday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning Low: -3

Afternoon High: 11

Wednesday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning Low: 1

Afternoon High: 14