From possible record highs Saturday to snow Sunday, southern Alberta is heading toward a ‘weather whiplash’ weekend

Beautiful weather in store for the weekend. Jodi Hughes has a look at the five-day forecast from the Sky Watch Weather Centre.

A strong and anchored ridge of high pressure will drive temperatures across southern Alberta close to 30 C Friday and Saturday.

Typical of this scenario, the stability under the ridge will create clear and calm conditions, with elevated diurnal temperatures, and no chance of active weather.

However – also typical of this synoptic setup – when this pattern becomes dislodged there will be a rapid and intense deterioration in temperatures and amplified risk of unsettled weather.

On Saturday the low that is in the Pacific basin is expected to move into B.C. – but there is still some uncertainty about where the low will land – and this is important for determining the type of precipitation and totals that will impact southern Alberta on Sunday.

Regardless of the location, Sunday will be a very unsettled day with a dramatic drop in temperatures, strong wind and some form of precipitation for portions of central and southern Alberta and B.C.

The initial signs of this changing pattern will be evident by looking at the change in temperatures for areas west of the Rockies and portions of northern Alberta later Saturday.

Colder air is going to funnel in to Alberta early Sunday as that ridge tracks east, and then that colder air will wrap back around the low, creating an upsloping effect and producing mixed precipitation and even snow for areas in the higher elevations and along the foothills.

Again, the location of the base of the trough (where the low sits) will be the determining factor in the type and amount of precipitation.

At this point is seems likely Calgary will only experience rain, but portions of southern Alberta could see freezing rain develop as this system initially moves in to the province.

This instability will be short-lived and temperatures will rebound by the early part of the week.

The normal daytime high in Calgary this time of year is 14 C with a low of 1 C.