One last warm day before things go sideways heading into the May long weekend. Temperatures will climb to the low 20s under mostly cloudy skies today and the wind should be light for most of the day. But...the wind starts to gust tonight and it’ll be howling throughout the day Thursday. The strongest wind speeds for the Edmonton area will likely blow through Thursday morning and early afternoon, gusts in the 60 to 80 km/h range. Those gusts may ease a bit Thursday night, but we’re still expecting windy conditions for Friday... just not AS windy as Thursday. Gusts will be in the 40-50 km/h range through at least the first half of the day Friday. It’s all thanks to a deep area of low pressure that’ll develop over south-central Alberta on Wednesday. That system then quickly moves off into southern Saskatchewan Thursday. The system will bring showers and/or periods of steadier rain to most of the province. The heaviest/steadiest rain will likely fall in eastern Alberta and in the Jasper/Nordegg region. For the Edmonton area, we’ll get some rain late tonight and through Thursday morning (amounts uncertain and likely highly variable across the region). There’s also a chance of some showers Thursday afternoon and even the possibility of a few scattered showers Friday/Saturday. BUT, overall, this really looks like more of a wind storm than a rain storm for Edmonton and area. There’s also a big cool down coming. With the upper ridge moving off and being replaced by the upper low, daytime highs will be about 10-15 degrees cooler to close the week and through most of the long weekend. That means highs in the 9 to 14 degree range for Thursday-Sunday. Elsewhere: The cooler air aloft brings in a chance of snow for parts of northern Alberta Friday morning, especially in the northeast corner of the province. Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area: Today - Mostly cloudy. Light wind. High: 23 Tonight - Mostly cloudy. 60% chance of showers this evening or overnight. Wind gusts increasing through the evening. Gusts around 40 km/h by 10pm and 60 km/h overnight. Thursday - Cloudy with rain in the morning. Then - 60% chance of a few showers in the afternoon. Wind NW 30-40 with gusts in the 60-80 km/h range in the morning and early afternoon. Gusts in the 50 km/h range late in the day and through the evening. Morning Low: 10 Afternoon High: 12 Friday - Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of a shower. Wind NW 20 with gusts of 40-50 km/h for most of the day, easing early in the evening. Morning Low: 7 Afternoon High: 12 Saturday - Mostly cloudy. Morning Low: 3 Afternoon High: 10 Sunday - Mix of sun & cloud. Morning Low: 2 Afternoon High: 14 Monday - Partly cloudy. Morning Low: 3 Afternoon High: 17
