Edmonton weather: Snow tonight and a deep freeze to follow

According to Cory Edel's forecast, Edmonton will be cold on Wednesday, but colder Thursday.

There are some changes to the long-range outlook that I’ll get to in a moment.

But, the short-term forecast remains the same: COLD.

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We’ll have snow across northern Alberta throughout the day and although most of that snow will pass to the north of Edmonton, there will probably be a few occasional flurries in the city today.

Temperatures should top out around -11 C midday and then slip into the -14 C range by late afternoon.

Some heavier, steadier snow will move through the Edmonton region overnight (after midnight).

That’ll likely be a fairly large area of snow stretching from around Slave Lake/Lac La Biche towards Red Deer overnight and then pushing into eastern Alberta early Thursday morning.

Most areas will get about 2 to 5 cm of snow, but there could be some spots that get closer to 10 cm.

Arctic air dives in behind that snow and temperatures will hold fairly steady around -20 C through the day Thursday.

We’re still expecting morning temperatures in the -25 C to -30 C range for Friday and Saturday, and Friday afternoon will be in the -20s.

BUT...there’s some moderation (warming) that’s now expected to take place through the weekend.

It’ll still be cold Saturday, but we should get above -20 C in the afternoon.

Sunday: The daytime highs could be anywhere between -10 C and -15 C.

THEN...the forecaster’s conundrum the past few days has been: How far north will the warm air reach early next week?

Temperatures at this time of year aren’t so much influenced by daytime heating as they are flows of air – ripples of warmth and waves of cold.

It’ll definitely be above 0 C early next week in southern Alberta, but will that stretch north towards Edmonton?

I still wouldn’t put any bets on exact temperatures for early next week in Edmonton.

BUT...it’s looking much more likely that the ripple of warm WILL boost temperatures significantly.

Bottom line: We’ll fall into a deep freeze for Thursday/Friday and Saturday morning.

Saturday afternoon will be cold, but not as cold as Thursday/Friday and then we’ll see temperatures climb closer to -10 C on Sunday.

Monday/Tuesday could be anywhere between 2 C and -10 C for highs, but it’s more likely that we end up somewhere around the -5 C range give or take three degrees.

Beyond Tuesday, another wave of cold settles in and we’ll see temperatures plummet again through the back half of next week.

Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Mostly cloudy. 40% chance of a few flurries.

High: -11

Tonight - Mostly cloudy with snow developing overnight. 3-6cm likely.

9pm: -16

Thursday - Snow ending early in the morning. Then...cloudy with some late-day sunny breaks.

Morning Low: -22

Afternoon High: -20

Friday - Mostly cloudy. 60% chance of flurries.

Morning Low: -27

Afternoon High: -22

Saturday - Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of evening flurries.

Morning Low: -27

Afternoon High: -17

Sunday - Mostly cloudy.

Morning: -16

Afternoon High: -13

Monday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: -14

Afternoon High: -4