CALGARY -- On Tuesday I said we'd be referring to this article to describe conditions for a couple of days.
That trend continues, relative to the Rex Block we're currently coping with. I use the term "coping" as lightly as possible, since high pressure is the dominant force in this forecast, which will continue increasing our high and low temperatures day-over-day through the week, capping with the warmest day Saturday (and dropping off dramatically Sunday – more on that in a bit).
It is neither positive nor negative to see our fire ban charting remain the exact same as yesterday, as of the six o'clock hour today.
Check the Alberta Fire Bans website for the full breadth of details.
Notes about Sunday: As this high-pressure ridge reaches its apex, we'll heat up to 17 C (!) on Satruday but beyond, we'll enter a tilt out of the southwest and the ensuing disturbance that fills a pocket of air north of that will cause our temperatures to plummet, with the likely result being showers that precede a bout of flurries late in the day.
Also, let's do some word-searching – etymology is the study of the origin of words. I was tumbling around with the idea, since just about every word in the English language is cribbed from some other word (for the absolute best of the best, UK's Susie Dent is superb), let's do some meteorological etymology.
I can think of no better place to start than the Rex Block, so named from Daniel F. Rex, the meteorologist who discovered the pattern. And that's not all – he has his name accredited to 46 articles in the NASA Astrophysics Data System. He's kind of a big deal.
But, we must go deeper. If you've seen the movie, Twister, you hear them talk about F-scale for tornadoes. F-0, F-3, F4. And in recent years, that's gone to the EF-system (still from 0 to 5). The "F" is named for Ted Fujita, the meteorologist who developed a method to categorize tornadoes by severity via intensity, path length, and path width.
Your five-day:
Wednesday
Sunny
Daytime high: 11 C
Evening: largely clear, low -1 C
Thursday
Sunny
Daytime high: 13 C
Evening: largely clear, low 0 C
Friday
Sunny
Daytime high: 14 C
Evening: largely clear, low 2 C
Saturday
Mainly Sunny
Daytime high: 17 C
Evening: largely clear, low 4 C
Sunday
Building cloud into showers
Daytime high: 8 C
Evening: showers become flurries, low -3 C
Only one photo is in the hopper right now, and while it isn't necessarily weather-related, it's a pretty fair sign that spring has sprung! Here are two lambs born on Tuesday. Thanks for the photo, Craig.
You can submit your weather photos here, or email me: Kevin Stanfield
