Severe thunderstorms likely on Friday, with the potential for tornado development north of Calgary

Severe thunderstorms possible Friday evening. Jodi Hughes has a look at the five-day forecast from the Sky Watch Weather Centre.

As expected, the air quality has improved in southern Alberta as winds from the south and west push wildfire smoke back into central and northern Alberta.

Rain on Thursday and Friday also helped improve the air quality by driving particulate down to the surface.

As of 7:30 a.m. Friday, the Air Quality Health Index rating in Calgary was a four - or moderate risk - on the scale from one to 10+ and the only air quality-related advisories were in northern Alberta and B.C.

By Friday afternoon, southern Alberta should be mostly clear of smoke, just in time for what could be an active 24 to 36 hours of weather.

A series of low pressure systems in the Pacific Northwest, B.C. and central Alberta have initiated a period of instability that is expected to last throughout the weekend.

Rain will be persistent as it wraps around these lows, especially into the north-central portions of our province.

By Sunday night some areas of Alberta could receive between 20 to 40 millimetres of rain.

There is a good chance of scattered and severe thunderstorm development on Friday afternoon along the QEII corridor between Red Deer and Edmonton.

Some of those storms have the potential to become supercell thunderstorms with large-sized hail, damaging winds and periods of intense rain.

Rotation is possible within some of these storms, possibly producing funnel clouds or even a tornado closer to the Saskatchewan border.

In Calgary and communities south of Red Deer, rain and thunderstorms are possible, but should be less intense and lack the energy of those in the central region.

This instability will remain an issue on Saturday bringing more thunderstorm threats for central and southern Alberta, but the storms on Saturday should generally be less severe than those that hit on Friday.

More rain is possible on Father’s Day, with a brief reprieve expected on Monday.