A significant snowstorm is brewing for central and north-central Alberta, but it won’t start until tonight in the Edmonton area.
Temperatures should climb to around 7 or 8 C this afternoon, with some increasing cloud and gusts around 30 km/h developing later in the day.
Then...we get some rain turning to snow tonight, several centimetres of snow through the day Thursday...AND temperatures dropping to below zero by Thursday afternoon.
Here’s a look at how tonight and Thursday will likely play out in the Edmonton region:
There’s still uncertainty with exactly how much accumulation we’ll end up with by Friday morning. A lot of that will have to do with how quickly the rain flips to snow and how soon that snow starts to stack up (it’ll probably melt on contact for a while).
We’ll also likely see more accumulation on areas that are still snow-covered, and less on roadways.
Regardless: This will be a significant snowfall and both the morning and evening commutes will be impacted.
There will be a large chunk of Alberta affected by this snow event.
Environment & Climate Change Canada issued this Special Weather Statement and it gives a pretty good idea of all the areas with the potential for heavy snow.
There may be some updated Warnings issued later today or Thursday as the storm develops. But, in general, we’re looking at the potential for 5 to 20 cm of snow in most of the region under the Special Weather Statement.
If you have highway travel plans for Thursday, be sure to check conditions before heading out and be prepared to delay your trip, or to have it take longer than usual.
Cooler air will be the big story after Thursday. We’ll see daytime highs around or below zero right through to Monday.
That’s about 10-15 degrees colder than the past few days in Edmonton and puts the upcoming highs on par with what we’ve recently had for morning lows.
Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:
Today - Partly cloudy this morning. Cloudy this afternoon.
Wind becoming SE 15 gusting to 30 km/h this afternoon.
High: 7
Tonight - Cloudy with showers this evening, turning to snow overnight.
Wind E 15 gusting to 30 km/h.
9pm: 5
Thursday - Snow. 5 to 15 cm likely. Wind: NE 10-20 with gusts 30-40 km/h.
Temperature falling through the day.
Morning: 0
Afternoon: -2
Friday - Cloudy. 60% chance of flurries/light snow in the morning.
Breezy.
Morning Low: -7
Afternoon High: -2
Saturday - Mostly cloudy.
Morning Low: -10
Afternoon High: -3
Sunday - Mostly cloudy.
Morning Low: -12
Afternoon High: -1
Monday - Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of flurries.
Morning Low: -7
Afternoon High: 0
