A sunny start to the weekend but still below-seasonal temperatures

After a couple of days of bitter cold and several dustings of snow, Thursday wasn't that bad at all, and Friday is set to offer us something similar.

Those frigid temperatures are finally starting to let up—at least a little bit!

Instead of highs in the -20s like we saw earlier in the week, daytime temperatures will manage to climb up to -12 C on Friday with mainly sunny conditions and up to -9 C on Saturday with some building cloud throughout the afternoon.

We can thank this little uptick in temperature to the cloudy conditions overnight, which are helping trap the heat produced during the day.

While the temperatures over the next couple of days appear to be trending in a warmer direction, don’t let that deceive you.

Much of Western Canada remains under a large Arctic air mass that will influence the temperatures until at least Feb. 15.

So, below-seasonal temperatures are here to stay for the first half of February.

It’s still a great-looking weekend to get out and enjoy some classic winter activities like outdoor skating and the Chinook Blast Festival—just make sure to layer up still and prepare for some flurries to move into Calgary as early as Saturday afternoon and easing off late Sunday morning.

Models suggest we could see about four centimetres of snow in Calgary by Sunday morning.