Edmonton weather: Snowy Thursday, cool spell digs in

It's snowing on Thursday and it's getting colder in the coming days.

It’s not quite the Ides of March just yet -- but beware of travel today.

Freezing drizzle coated surfaces in parts of the Edmonton area early this morning, ahead of today’s snowfall.

Roads and sidewalks are going to awfully slick and it’ll likely be tough to get traction on some roads with that ice beneath the snow later today.

Snowfall warnings remain in effect for areas from Grande Prairie east through Slave Lake and across to the Cold Lake region.

• Snowfall warning activated for Edmonton area

In the west, Hinton south to Banff and then northeast up through the Edmonton region are also under the warning.

However, I think the Grande Prairie area will probably see that warning end later this morning.

(Note: The following snowfall warning image is from 7:30 a.m. Thursday. Check with ECCC for the latest updates through today).

In the west, Highway 93 could see sections where the Icefields Parkway gets 15-25 cm of snow.

As for snowfall totals closer to home, the expected accumulation for Edmonton has backed off. I think it’s more likely that we’ll end up with about 6 to 12 cm of accumulation.

So, that’s at the low end of the 10-20 centimetres that looked possible as late as yesterday.

Areas north of Edmonton and the Lloydminster/Cold Lake regions are still expected to get totals in that 10-20 cm range.

The snow pushes into the Edmonton area from the SW through this morning and the heaviest of the snow should fall through the afternoon hours.

We’re also likely going to see temperatures slip a bit through the day, to the -8 C range this afternoon.

Factor in winds around 20 gusting to 30 or 40 km/h and wind chill will be in the minus teens for most of the day.

The snow moves off into east-central and NE Alberta this evening, but the colder temperatures will stick around for a few days.

Some sunny breaks and highs in the -6 to -10 range for Friday/Saturday.

Morning temperatures will drop into the -15 C range Friday and near -20 C Saturday morning.

We get a bit of moderation early next week as temperatures climb into the -2 to -6 range for Sunday/Monday/Tuesday.

Daytime highs should return to around or slightly above zero by Wednesday and through the back half of next week.

So...the Spring Equinox is next Thursday (March 20) and it should be a relatively mild start to the season.

Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Snow, at times heavy this afternoon. 6 to 12cm likely.

Wind: NE 15-20 with gusts 30-40 km/h

Temperature slipping to the -8 range this afternoon

Wind chill in the minus teens through most of the day

Tonight - Snow ending this evening. Cloudy overnight.

Wind easing.

9pm: -11

Friday - Mostly cloudy in the morning. Partly cloudy afternoon.

Morning Low: -14

Afternoon High: -8

Saturday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning Low: -15

Afternoon High: -8

Sunday - Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of late-day flurries.

Morning Low: -11

Afternoon High: -5

Monday - Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of flurries.

Morning Low: -12

Afternoon High: -3

Tuesday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning Low: -11

Afternoon High: -2