ATHABASCA — In spite of the warm weather brought on last week, don’t put away your mitts and jackets just yet — this week’s forecast is calling for chances of mid-week winter weather before a return to spring next week.
The recent warm weather will be taking a short break in northern Alberta, as Environment Canada has forecast the return of minus 12 overnight windchills, and a 60 per cent chance of flurries to Athabasca starting Tuesday evening and continuing into the night.
Flurries are expected to persist until Wednesday morning and subside in the afternoon, with the overnight temperature reaching a low of -11 C. The forecast also warns of chances of day-time snow Thursday, March 21.
No snow is expected as of yet for the rest of the week, but night-time temperatures will stay as low as 17 until Monday, March 25, when above-zero weather is expected to return.
Regions in the northern part of the province aren’t the only ones anticipating a break in the unusually warm weather. Environment Canada issued a special weather statement for southern Alberta March 19, highlighting the stark changes in store for this week.
The special statement notes between 15 to 25 centimetres of snow may fall in southern areas of the province in the next two days, accompanied by cold temperatures and higher quantities of snow in areas of the Rockies. The arrival of a cold front on comes on the heels of record-breaking temperatures seen across Alberta and Canada last week.
Olds area is predicted to get between 10 and 20 centimetres of snow over the next two days, and Banff is expecting snow over the next five days and nights.
Calgary is set for similar weather as Banff, with some estimates of snowfall reaching between 25 and 47 centrimetres of snow between Tuesday and Sunday morning.
