Temperatures will continue to trend in a positive direction for southern Alberta on Thursday thanks to some warm westerly winds. As of 6 a.m., the temperature at the airport was 8C which is much warmer compared to the same time yesterday at a chilly -3C! It just goes to show how beneficial the winds can be in warming up the city when they come from the right direction. Throughout the day expect winds to remain from the west at around 20 to 30 km/h which will steer us to a high of 15C, not too shabby for Oct. 23! Looking ahead to the weekend, we are going to build on this warm weather for one more day on Friday, where a tilt in the Jetstream will bring southwesterly winds into Calgary at 20 to 40 km/h resulting in a high of 17C with a mix of sun and cloud. Saturday will start off pleasant, but a gradual cooldown will start to develop later in the day as a massive trough over the west coast starts to move inland. The bark of this system will be worse than its bite, at least for the Calgary area. Some regions along the West Coast and the B.C. interior are under rainfall and wind warnings associated with this trough, but the Rocky Mountains will block much of the precipitation from entering the Prairies. That being said, our future cast is modeling some overnight precipitation for the extreme southwest portion of Alberta on Saturday. At this point, it’s just too early to tell if Calgary will get a blast of wet weather as well. What is more certain is a gradual cool down when this low pressure air mass pushes in. It will start to take effect on Sunday with a few days of single-digit highs to start off next week.
