Warm air has Edmonton feeling more like late March than early February

Warm air stays firmly entrenched over Alberta through the rest of the week, with the warmest temperatures hitting on Wednesday in Edmonton.

Daytime highs will be in the 4 to 9 C range today/through Saturday.

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But, Wednesday will probably hit double digits and set a new record high for Feb. 4. The current record high is 9.4 C from 1991.

Record highs beyond Wednesday jump to the 12-14 C range...so...although we’ll stay well above the seasonal average and several degrees above 0 C, I don’t think we’re breaking any records in the back half of this week.

That said, if you look at average highs, we’ll be more in line with late March/early April temperatures over the next week and a half.

As for when the warm spell will end, there are strong indications that some cooler air will drop in early next week. The question is: how muchy cooler?

I’m going with highs near 0 C for Monday/Tuesday. But, it could end up being anywhere between -3 C and 3 C for highs those days. So...even at the bottom of that scale...that’s still not cold.

Another slight warm-up looks likely for mid-to-late next week and then somewhere around mid-month we may see temperatures drop back to the -5 to -10 C range. That’s a long ways off and there’s not a lot of confidence in that.

But, we’ll eventually get a least a few more cold days and right now, mid-month is the best chance for that.

Bottom line: We’re staying warmer than average (by varying degrees) for at least the next 10 to 12 days.

Precipitation outlook:

A few scattered showers moved through the Edmonton region Monday night and we might see a few more scattered showers in the area late Tuesday night.

An area of low pressure will bring snow and freezing rain to northern Alberta late today and tonight. That precipitation will mostly impact areas from the Peace Country north to High Level and then east to the Fort McMurray area overnight/early Wednesday.

There’s a slight chance that a few showers may develop as far south as the Edmonton area late tonight. But...temperatures will stay above 0 C overnight, so we won’t see much/any icing.

Another shot of snow/freezing rain hits the north on Thursday.

Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Mix of sun & cloud.

High: 5

Tonight - Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of a shower overnight.

9pm: 2

Temperature steady or rising overnight.

Wednesday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning: 4

Afternoon High: 10

***RECORD HIGH: 9.4 in 1991

Thursday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: 3

Afternoon High: 8

Friday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: -1

Afternoon High: 5

Saturday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning Low: -2

Afternoon High: 5

Sunday - Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of showers.

Morning Low: -4

Afternoon High: 4