Josh Classen’s forecast: At least another week of the cold spell

An aerial image of the Alberta legislature in downtown Edmonton, with the North Saskatchewan River and High Level Bridge in the background, taken on Dec. 5, 2024. (Cam Wiebe / CTV News Edmonton)

A little bit milder than anticipated in Edmonton this morning as the clouds helped keep temperatures above -20 C overnight.

We’re not expecting much of a warm up through the day, though.

Cloudy with a few sunny breaks, light wind and a high near -14 C early this afternoon in the city.

It’s a different story in eastern Alberta. Temperatures near -30 C and wind chills in the -36 to -40 C range this morning.

Highs will be around -20 C in that part of the province this afternoon.

Meanwhile, it’ll be about 10 degrees milder in the Grande Prairie/Hinton areas with afternoon temperatures in the -8 to -10 C range.

Between 1 and 4 centimetres of snow is expected in northwestern and west-central Alberta through the day.

Edmonton and area will be out on the eastern edge of the potential snow zone...so...no guarantee, but likely that we’ll get some flurries this afternoon.

Temperatures ARE still expected to drop a bit further in the coming days as the arctic airmass over eastern Alberta and Saskatchewan slumps back to the west.

Mornings in the mid -20s are likely for Friday-Sunday. Afternoon temperatures will be in the -16 to -20 C range, particularly Friday/Saturday.

Looking LONG range: We’re still expecting some late Sunday and through Monday, possibly several centimetres of accumulation.

Then...a warming trend begins mid-week and it’s looking more and more likely that we’ll be near 0 C by the end of next week.

So, I may have been a bit too pessimistic with my forecasts the past few days.

Instead of getting back the 0 to -5 C range by the 22/23rd...it’s now more probable that we’ll be in that range by the 20/21st (Thursday/Friday instead of Saturday/Sunday next week).

AND...there’s even an outside chance we get that big bump as early as Wednesday.

That still leaves us with at least another week of temperatures 10 to 15 degrees below average.

But, there is an end in sight.

Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Mostly cloudy with a few sunny breaks.

High: -14

Tonight - Cloudy. 60% chance of flurries this evening.

9pm: -17

Thursday - Mostly cloudy.

Morning Low: -21

Afternoon High: -16

Friday - Mostly cloudy.

Morning Low: -24

Afternoon High: -18

Saturday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: -26

Afternoon High: -18

Sunday - Mostly cloudy. 40% chance of late-day snow.

Morning Low: -24

Afternoon High: -15

Monday - Mostly cloudy. 60% chance of light snow.

Morning Low: -20

Afternoon High: -15