Warm start to the weekend with a big change starting Sunday

Another plunge in temperatures expected next week. Jodi Hughes has a look at the five-day forecast from the Sky Watch Weather Centre.

Stable weather conditions will continue for the beginning of the weekend, including plenty of sunshine and daytime highs in the low double-digits.

Daily low temperatures will also exceed seasonal norms this weekend and at times exceed average daytime high values of 2 C.

The main weather maker right now is a ridge of high pressure edging in to the southern border of British Columbia and Alberta, funneling in warm, moist air from the Pacific basin.

Scattered precipitation is expected to fall across the B.C. interior and the western portion of the Rockies with warmer air descending down the eastern slopes into the foothills on Friday, Saturday and early Sunday.

Later on Sunday, this pattern will be disrupted when a low pressure system moves in to northern Alberta and starts to track south and east.

Heavy snow is likely later Sunday and on Monday in some portions of Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan but, as of 7 a.m. Friday, there is little model agreement on where the greatest accumulations will be.

A strong and colder wind is expected to precede this precipitation kicking off a distinct change in daily highs that will start on Monday.

By the middle of next week, not only will high temperatures be below seasonal, there will be a period of at least 48 hours where the temperature in Calgary is unlikely to make it above freezing.