A 'significant' weather change is on the way for Alberta and it's not cute
Warm weather records have been falling like dominoes this week across Alberta, and you’d better enjoy it while it lasts, because a significant change is on the way.
Daily Hive chatted with Alyssa Pederson, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), on what Albertans should brace for as we roll through this weekend and peek at next week.
The warm spell Alberta has been under this week is thanks to an upper ridge, with Pederson explaining that the jet stream across western North America has been arching right over B.C. and right over Alberta, leading to a couple of storm systems that have moved through the Northwest Territories.
That exact setup looks to continue through this weekend into the middle of next week, but that’s when things start to shift a little.
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Pederson says the forecast is hinting at systems developing in the Northwest Territories next week that are going to then move towards the southeast into Saskatchewan and Manitoba, bringing a bunch of snow for them, but bringing temperatures down for us.
As for when the chillier temperatures are set to invade Alberta, the cold front is set to slide down the province mid next week, pushing into Edmonton around the Thursday/Friday window, and into Calgary Friday and over next weekend in southern Alberta.
Luckily, it won’t be polar vortex-level kind of extreme cold, with models showing lows probably in the mid-minus-teens for large swaths of the province, including Edmonton and Calgary. It will be colder in the northern sections of the province, with temperatures in the mid-minus 20s there.
Pederson added that with this incoming system, there will be a couple of snowfall events as the cold pattern transitions south through the province.
Many areas in the province, including Edmonton and Calgary, may see some flurry activity next week on Tuesday as well as Thursday. The good news is that the models are not predicting anything of significance, and after all the snow and rough roads some parts of the province have endured, we’ll take it.
“What’s happening next week is a system in the Northwest Territories is moving into Manitoba, and we kind of just get the pretty significant cold air push and the subsidence of that ridge instead,” Pederson said. This is unlike systems that can barrel through B.C., develop in Alberta, drop 10 to 20 centimetres of snow, and then the cold air sinks in, much like what we saw over the Christmas break into the New Year.
As for how long the cool spell is set to last, Pederson says most of ECCC’s guidance is pointing to the week of the 26th looking a bit tamer, bringing the end of January back to more moderate temperatures for this time of year, but no big blast of heat is in the cards like we saw earlier this week.
We are also flying towards February, which is something Pederson wanted to remind Albertans to be cognizant of after we were treated to a warm spell recently.
“February is coming, and it can have extremely cold temperatures. We are still in a La Niña, and December was very much a La Niña pattern, with way below normal temperatures and very snowy, as we all know,” Pederson said.
“That’s still kind of the influence we expect. Prepare for the cold. It’s been a nice little break, but it’s not over.”