Warm and windy weather to continue with highs this week reaching 14 C

This warm weather pattern is proving to be equally as persistent as the cold weather pattern that set up for the first two-and-a-half weeks of February,

Daytime highs across southern Alberta on Tuesday were unusually warm with many weather stations across the province recording daytime high temperatures near or above double-digits.

In Calgary, the highs on Monday and Tuesday were between 10 C and 11 C as compared to the normal daytime high of 1 C. Those highs will be the lowest highs until Thursday.

Overnight temperatures have also been, and will remain, well above seasonal values.

The normal low temperature this time of the year is close to -11 C, as opposed to recent lows around 0 C.

Consistent ridging over the Pacific basin has opened up a path for warm Pacific air to funnel into B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan, which is helping to drive temperatures up.

Associated chinook winds have accelerated melting across southern Alberta, resulting in water pooling and causing some surfaces to become icy and/or muddy where the ground is either too saturated and/or too cold to absorb the melting water.

Chinook winds will continue on Wednesday and likely intensify on Thursday, especially in the usual hot spots across southern Alberta.

Gusts up to 100 km/h are possible in southwestern Alberta by Thursday afternoon.

Winter storm warnings and snowfall warnings have been issued for northern Alberta and central and northern Saskatchewan where a low pressure system is expected to ride along the north and eastern edge of the warm Pacific ridge.

Precipitation is expected to begin across the warned areas on Wednesday with the highest accumulations forecast to hit on Thursday.

The trailing warm front of that low could produce a swath of freezing rain across the north-central and east-central portions of Alberta early Friday morning.

In Calgary, conditions will be mostly sunny, with the first chance of precipitation not expected until Monday.