Hopefully Red Deerians took advantage of recent warm weather because flurries may strike on the weekend.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is calling for a 40 per cent chance of flurries Saturday night, and a 30 per cent chance Sunday.
Temperatures will plummet Thursday with a forecast high of 5 C during the day and a low of 1 C at night. By Friday night, the temperature dips to -2 C. The high Saturday will be 3 C, with a low of -3 C at overnight. The high Sunday is 4 C.
Meteorologist Kyle Fougere said a large snowfall event is possible in southern Alberta. But how much snow can’t be predicted yet.
“Starting Wednesday night and into Thursday, a low pressure system comes through and it’s going to bring some cold air down. There’s going to be the possibility of flurries or snow in higher terrain over the foothills, the mountain parks on Thursday and more rain in other parts of the province as the system moves through,” Fougere said.
He said by Saturday and Sunday widespread snow is possible over much of southern Alberta.
“Red Deer is going to be near the northern extent of it. We’re really going to have to see where this system develops, where the coldest air lies, to know where the precipitation change is going to be.”
He said by Wednesday and Thursday, the Red Deer area will get some rain. Overnight there could be some flurries mixed in, but it’s likely going to be rain. The city will see daytime highs of about 16 C until Wednesday prior to the temperature taking a dive. Such drastic shifts in temperature are typical this time of year.
“You can have very rapid swings in temperature, and a lot of times these systems are accompanied by precipitation which can change from rain to snow fairly quickly.”
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Red Deer’s warmest days so far this month were Sept. 3 when it reached 25.3 C. On Sunday it was 23.6 C.
This summer, the temperature only broke 30 C on August 21 when it climbed to 30.7 C and on August 2 when it reached 30.5 C. The warmest day in July was 29.4 C.
“The story this summer is we did not have many ridges of high pressure. A ridge of high pressure is what would typically bring those clear skies and really warm conditions. Usually it sticks around for several days and every day the temperature builds,” Fougere said.
With a total of 148 mm of precipitation for all of June, July and August, precipitation also fell short of the 237.5 mm average for Red Deer.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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