Josh Classen’s forecast: Cold spell lingers through the weekend, but breaks next week

Snow and ice covers most of the North Saskatchewan River in this Jan. 22, 2025, aerial photo taken over Edmonton's Walterdale Bridge. (Cam Wiebe / CTV News Edmonton)

Not much change to the forecast or the weather pattern. It still looks like the cold air will hang around until mid-to-late next week.

Temperatures got a bit milder than expected on Wednesday as we hit -11 C in Edmonton. But, that’s still seven degrees below average.

Arctic air dominates the eastern half of the province and extreme cold warnings remain in effect for areas around Lloydminster and up in the Fort Chipewyan region.

It looks like that colder air is pushing a bit further west than it did yesterday, so we should be in the -15/-16 C this afternoon in Edmonton.

Afternoon highs in the -15 to -20 C range are expected for Friday-Sunday, with mornings in the -21 to -26 C range.

By Wednesday of next week, we should finally see the pattern change. The polar vortex that’s been locked in place over central Canada will weaken and move off.

That’ll allow some warmer air to build in from the west and although there’s still some uncertainty with just how quickly that warm up will happen, we should be looking at highs around or above 0 C by next Friday/Saturday...possibly as early as Thursday.

So...one more cold weekend and a chilly start to next week. But, we’ll be thawing out by the end of next week.

Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Mostly cloudy with a few sunny breaks.

Wind becoming E 10 km/h. Wind chill in the -23 range this afternon.

High: -16

Tonight - Mostly cloudy.

9pm: -18

Friday - Cloudy with a 40% chance of flurries.

Morning Low: -22

Afternoon High: -17

Saturday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: -26

Afternoon High: -18

Sunday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: -24

Afternoon High: -16

Monday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning Low: -20

Afternoon High: -16

Tuesday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: -20

Afternoon High: -14