More heat and more storms expected for today

An aerial image of the North Saskatchewan River valley in Edmonton taken on July 9, 2024. (Cam Wiebe / CTV News Edmonton)

Rinse and repeat. After parts of Edmonton got hammered by heavy rain early Wednesday morning, it’s setting up to be another active evening in central and north-central Alberta.

• Hourly and 7-day forecast on our CTVNewsEdmonton.ca weather hub

We’ll get to that forecast in a moment. First, let’s recap this morning’s storm.

Parts of downtown and north Edmonton got hit the hardest with the rain early Wednesday morning. Southern parts of the city saw little to no from the storm.

Here’s what the radar looked like as two separate storms tore through the northern parts of the region.

Officially, the Blatchford weather station recorded 41 mm. That brings us to 136 mm so far this month.

Halfway through the month, we’re already well above the average July precipitation total of 83 mm.

It’s already the wettest July since Edmonton had 163 mm in 2019.

And... there’s more on the way.

Thunderstorms will develop in western Alberta this afternoon and track east through the Edmonton region late this afternoon/early this evening.

So, today’s storm risk will be a lot earlier in the day than yesterday. We’re looking at the 5-10 p.m. window as the most likely timeframe.

Once again, severe storms are likely, especially in areas west and northwest of Edmonton.

Large hail and heavy downpours are the primary threats, but the risk of a tornado cannot be ruled out.

Looking ahead, we should get a sunny day with temperatures near 30 C on Thursday. There’s a very slight risk of a thunderstorm in the evening, but I think we’ll stay dry as the storms mostly develop well south of Edmonton.

We’re back to a high near 30 again Friday and the late-day storm risk returns for the Edmonton area.

Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Morning sun. Increasing afternoon cloud. 60% chance of a late-afternoon shower/thunderstorm.

High: 27

Tonight - 60% chance of an early-evening shower/thunderstorm. Clearing overnight.

9pm: 23

Thursday - Mainly sunny.

Morning Low: 15

Afternoon High: 29

Friday - Partly cloudy. 60% chance of a late-day shower/thunderstorm.

Morning Low: 16

Afternoon High: 29

Saturday - Partly cloudy. 60% chance of an evening thunderstorm.

Morning Low: 17

Afternoon High: 27

Sunday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning Low: 17

Afternoon High: 23

Monday - Mostly cloudy.

Morning Low: 14

Afternoon High: 24