Central Alberta is expected to get more snow, but it should melt quickly before the Thanksgiving weekend.
Environment Canada issued a special weather statement about an intense cold front expected to bring gusty winds, a drop in temperatures and snow starting Monday night and into Tuesday.
In the Red Deer area, two to four centimetres of snow is expected, and Tuesday night, the temperature is forecast to dip to -8 C.
The cold front was expected to sweep through the province, resulting in heavy snow for parts of western Alberta. Significant snowfall accumulations were possible for the Rocky mountains and foothills regions.
The temperature in the Red Deer area is forecast to climb back up to a high of 1 C Wednesday, with sunny skies. Temperatures will continue to rise during the week, with a sunny high of 14 forecast for Saturday.
People looking to visit local farms on the weekend to pick up pumpkins for their Thanksgiving meal, or Halloween, are still in luck despite the snow.
Snow expected in southern Alberta over the weekend
September snow unwelcomed, especially by farmers
Rachel Kraay, one of the owners of the Kraay Family Farm and Lacombe Corn Maze, said pumpkins were safely picked and stored before a killing frost struck last week.
“That was the end of all the vines. We’ve had frost as early as August, so we were happy with October,” Kraay said.
She said it took a while for pumpkins to start growing this summer, but the end result was good. The snow should be long gone by the weekend, so it won’t interfere with visits to the farm, she said.
“Most weekends in the fall are fairly steady for us. But Thanksgiving is definitely a weekend we notice there’s a big increase of family groups that will come.”
The farm grows a variety of pumpkins, including small ones that fit nicely into the pumpkin cannon, similar to a potato gun, for visitors to shoot at targets in the field.
“They’re always waiting to shoot. It’s fun,” Kraay said.
Leona Staples, at The Jungle Farm south of Penhold, said plenty of big pumpkins came out of her farm this year, which was a surprise, because overcast skies reduced bee activity.
“I didn’t expect to see what we saw come out of our patch. September was our saviour.
“We had a beautiful, long fall without frost until the very end,” said Staples, who also expects a busy weekend ahead, as people come out to purchase vegetables for their Thanksgiving dinner.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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