Temperatures will not make it above -10 C for most of next week

Temperatures on a steady downward trend. Jodi Hughes has a look at the five-day forecast from the Sky Watch Weather Centre.

A major cooldown will kick off after this weekend as widespread polar air covers the country.

Daytime highs in Calgary are expected to drop down to at least -10 C by Wednesday with lows between -16 C and -18 C.

The normal range this time of year includes daily highs of 0 C and daily lows around -12 C.

This trend will likely last for a while as the upper pattern initially settles into zonal flow (more of a straight west to east flow along the mid-latitude jet stream vs. undulations - or waves - around alternating high- and low-pressure systems).

This will open things up for the polar vortex to sink into the Prairie provinces and south along the Pacific Coast.

More snow is expected through southeastern British Columbia on Friday and some of that may continue through to the foothills and possibly as far east as Calgary by Saturday.

The next significant chance of snow in the Calgary area will be on Monday night as that shift in our weather pattern really becomes established.

The initial signs of this chance will be felt via with a frontal system introducing strong north wind and mixed precipitation that transitions into snow across the region.

Temperatures will drop quite quickly from Monday to Tuesday before settling around values that are at least 10 degrees below seasonal for the daytime highs.

Early morning temperatures for the end of next week will be much different than they have been for the start of this month, and include wind chill values in the -20s.

The start of this weekend will be mild with a high of 7 C in Calgary on Friday and 3 C to 4 C for Saturday and Sunday.