Expect strong winds Friday ahead of a cool and wet weekend

Brief blip of moisture and cold on the weekend. Jodi Hughes has a look at the five-day forecast from the Sky Watch Weather Centre.

The morning temperatures in many southern Alberta communities on Friday were sitting closer to average daytime highs with some locations like Medicine Hat in the low double-digits.

For the past few days a dominant ridge of high pressure sitting over British Columbia and Alberta has pushed temperatures closer to 20 degrees at times.

That system is starting to break down and will make way for a northern Alberta low which is expected to track south and east over the weekend.

To kick off the transition strong westerly winds flowed along the southern border early Friday, and by the afternoon that wind will be swept up into the incoming frontal system, producing intense northwesterly winds for a good portion of the province.

Wind gusts up to 80 km/h are possible throughout the day Friday.

The other component of this weekends’ weather story will be precipitation.

Due to the likely path of the low there is the potential for heavier accumulations of snow in the Rockies on Friday and Saturday, and a combination of rain and a rain/snow mix is forecast for most of central and southern Alberta – including Calgary.

Warm surface temperatures will help to melt any snow in the lower elevations, but there is a chance that this system will bring variable totals depending on timing and location.

The overnight temperatures in Calgary over the weekend will sit closer to seasonal values of -3 C, with daytime highs below the seasonal norm of 10 C.