Winter rapidly returns with up to 20 cm of snow and highs of -20 C

Special weather statement in Calgary and area. Jodi Hughes has a look at the five-day forecast from the Sky Watch Weather Centre.

The local weather conditions for the end of February will be the literal polar opposite of the start of the month.

After more than two weeks of above seasonal temperatures and record-setting highs in southern Alberta, winter weather will be returning with a vengeance.

A moisture-laden system heading into southern British Columbia and Alberta will slam into a polar air mass from the north, creating heavy accumulations of snow, rapidly dropping temperatures and poor visibility as strong easterly winds amplify the risk of blizzard-like conditions.

After a decent start to the day Monday, a low-pressure system will cross into southern Alberta on Monday afternoon.

Low pressure systems include a counter-clockwise rotation at their core, and as they enter the leeward side of a mountain range, they can cause precipitation totals to be both highly variable and challenging to forecast due to the “upsloping” that occurs when the low circles back against the range.

As of Monday morning, it seems likely this system will produce the heaviest snowfall totals in southeastern B.C., throughout the Rockies, east of the QEII, and closer to Edmonton vs. Calgary – however – most of central and southern Alberta is at risk of seeing at least 10 to 20 centimetres of snow between Monday afternoon and Wednesday.

Winds will likely be strongest in the east-central regions of Alberta and when this front moves in temperatures will fall very quickly, by as much as 10 degrees over two to three hours on Tuesday.

A number of weather warnings and special weather statements were issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) early Monday in anticipation of this dramatic change.

Portions of southern British Columbia and north-central Alberta were placed under yellow-level snowfall warnings.

Yellow winter storm warnings were issued in east-central Alberta due to intense snowfall rates and a higher likelihood of compromised visibility from blowing snow and widespread special weather statements were issued across Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. with ECCC explaining, “An abrupt return to winter is on the way this week, with snow and blowing snow expected.”

That polar air mass will eventually settle over most of the country and by the middle of the week daytime highs will largely sit more than 10 degrees below seasonal – with the highs in Calgary expected to sit around -20 C on Wednesday – or 20 degrees below seasonal.

Calgary will reach a high of 1 C on Monday with snow likely to start mid-afternoon.

The high on Tuesday is expected to peak at -11 C, but that will occur very early in the day.

By Wednesday morning, wind chill values across portions of southern Alberta will sit between -30 and -40.

While the snow will only last for a couple of days this week the cold temperatures will persist.

Daytime highs for the next week and a half will sit between -9 C and -20 C.