Calgary's five-day outlook: all over the map

CALGARY -

A mixed-bag forecast for the next few days has us brushing against seasonal, then dropping well off from it… only to climb above.

Let's dive in!

We'll start with a good shot at west wind today, derived from a high pressure air mass that's struggling to climb directly over us. This should generate some warm, dry air off the Rockies, and we'll aim to climb to 5 C. Tomorrow, that wave drops off, and we'll sit around 3 C.

Before I move on, here's a tweet:

Great Q, Chris!
Split down the middle. Most forecast models are going with 50% cloud cover overnight. Outliers point to marginally clearer conditions, but it'll be a mixed bag tonight. https://t.co/paxy1GUp2q

— Kevin Stanfield (@CTVStanfield) November 18, 2021

What's this lunar eclipse, you ask? The full article's here, but the short version is: Just after midnight, the longest partial lunar eclipse (earth's shadow against the sun will make the moon appear red) in nearly 600 years is coming out. It peaks just after 2 am, and is gone before 4 am. Calgary will be looking at 50 per cent cloud cover at that time.

Saturday. This one will be something. We start off as normal, then it takes one heck of a turn. An arctic high is sweeping down from, you know – the Arctic – and plunges our temperature just after the noon hour. That change in temperature and pressure will generate plenty of north wind. It'll be a very chilly period overnight into Sunday.

But it doesn't last! We're right back to a warm burst of air by Monday, and we're pushed well above normal from it.

YOUR FIVE-DAY FORECAST

Today:

• Mainly cloudy, west wind gusts 40-50 km/h
• Daytime high: 5 C
• Evening: some cloud, low -4 C

Friday:

• Mainly sunny
• Daytime high: 3 C
• Evening: some cloud, low -5 C

Saturday:

• Cold wave! Northerly wind gusts, downtrending through the afternoon
• Daytime high: 2 C
• Evening: windy, cloudy, low -11 C

Sunday:

• Partly cloudy
• Daytime high: 4 C
• Evening: some cloud, low -1

Monday:

• Partly cloudy, southwest wind
• Daytime high: 8 C
• Evening: some cloud, low -1

Mark in Canmore sent along this wintry shot!

You can submit your photos here, email me here, or tweet them over!